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HILLEGAS # OOM PAULS PEOPLE
NARRATIVE OF BRITISH BOER TROUBLE

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OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

President Kruger on the piazza of the Executive Mansion, Pretoria.

4^ \

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

A NARRATIVE OF THE BRITISH-BOER TROUBLES

IN SOUTH AFRICA, WITH A HISTORY

OF THE BOERS, THE COUNTRY,

AND ITS INSTITUTIONS

By HOWARD. C. HTLLEGAS

ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT PHOTOGRAPHS
AND A MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA

NEW YORK

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

1900

~\s<^-\.

PREFACE

American enterprises in South Africa, and
especially in the Transvaal, have assumed such
large proportions in the last five years that the
affairs of the country and the people are steadily
gaining in interest the land over. As almost all
the interest is centred in the Transvaal and the
Boers, an unprejudiced opinion of the country
and its people may serve to correct some of the
many popular misconceptions concerning them.
The Boers constitute a nation, and are deserving
of the consideration which many writings con-
cerning them fail to display. They have their
failings, as many a more powerful nation has,
but they also have noble traits. In these pages
an effort has been made to describe the Boers
as they impressed themselves upon my mind
while I associated with them in the farmhouses
on the veldt, in the drawing-rooms in the cities.

vi OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

in the chambers of the Government House, and
in the mansion of the Executive.

The alleged grievances of the Uitlanders are
so complex and multitudinous that a mere enu-
meration of them would necessitate a separate
volume, and consequently they are not touched
upon except collectively. As a layman, it is not
v^^ithin my province to discuss the diplomatic
features of South African affairs, and I have
shown only the moral aspect as it was unfolded
to an American whose pride in the Anglo-Saxon
race causes him to wish that there w^ere more
justice and less venom in the grievances.

To the many South Africans with whose hos-
pitable treatment I was favoured I am deeply and
sincerely grateful. Englishmen, Afrikanders,
Dutchmen, Boers, and Uitlanders were excep-
tionally gracious in many ways, and, however
they may have differed on local topics, w^ere
unanimously courteous in their entertainment of
a citizen of the country for which they frequently
expressed such great admiration. I am especially
indebted to Sir Alfred Milner, the Queen's High
Commissioner to South Africa and Governor of
Cape Colony, and Sir James Sivewright, the Act-

PREFACE vii

ing Premier of Cape Colony, for many courtesies
and much information; to President S. J. P.
Kruger for many kindnesses and a greatly treas-
ured Transvaal fiag; to Postmaster-General Van
Alphen, Mr. Peter Dillingham, Commissioner of
War Smidt, and many other Government offi-
cials, for valuable assistance given to me in Pre-
toria. To those stanch Americans, Mr. Gardner
F. Williams, of Kimberley, and Dr. J. Perrott
Prince, of Durban, I am indebted for many pleas-
ant excursions and experiences, and finally to my
friend Mr. W. M. B. Tuttle, of New York city,
for valuable assistance in this work.

Howard C. Hillegas.

New York City, September 4, i8gg.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ^^^^

I.— South Africa of the present time . . i
Its physical and political divisions— Relations of the
races— Progress of the natives— Transvaal's relative
position.
II.— The early history of the Boer race . . 25
Early settlement of the Cape— Troubles of the im-
migrants with the East India Company and the
English— The Great Trek— Battles with the natives
and the English— Founding of the republic.

III. — The Johannesburg gold fields ... 64
Discovery of gold — Early days of the field and the
influx of foreigners— The origin of the enmity be-
tween the Boers and the newcomers— The Jameson
raid and its results.

IV. — The Boer of to-day 88

His habits and modes of living — His love of family
— His religion and patriotism.

V. — President Kruger no

Personal description — His long and active career —
His public services— Anecdotes of his life — His home
life.

VI. — Interview with President Kruger . . 136
His democracy— Hatred of Mr. Rhodes— Discussion
of the Transvaal's position — His opinion of Americans
—Why he hates the English— A. message to America.

X OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

CHAPTER PAGE

VII. — Cecil John Rhodes 159

The ambition of the man— Story of his youth — His
many enterprises— Political career— Personality— An-
ecdotes and incidents of his life— Groote Schuur — His
home.

VIII. — The Boer Government — civil and military . igi
The executive and legislative branches of the Gov-
ernment—The Raads in session — The state military
organization — Mobilizing the army — Commandant-
General P. J. Joubert — His services to the republic.

IX. — Causes of present dissensions .... 215
British contempt of the Boers— The suzerainty dis-
pute—The question of the franchise— Campaign of
slander.

X. — Preparations for defence 236

Boers' strong defences— Attitude of the races — The
Afrikander Bond — Armed strength of races— Eng-
land's preparation — Importance of Delagoa Bay. \

XL— American interests in South Africa . . 259 '^
American influence— Exports and imports — Leaders
of the American colony — American machinery —
Prominent part Americans have taken in the devel-
opment of the country.

XII. — Johannesburg of to-day ..... 283
Approach to the city — Description of the city — Its
characteristics— Its inhabitants.

MASHONA^LAND

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leautort ^ jt ^ %V
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Good Hope

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ritenha^rf ^^^ort Alfred

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V SCALE OF MILES <

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0 25 50 75 100 150 200 ^

BORMAY i CO.

Map of South Africa.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING
PAGE

President Kruger on the piazza of the Executive
Mansion, Pretoria .... Frontispiece

A band of Zulu warriors in war costume ... 42
Majuba Hill, where one hundred and fifty Boer volun-
teers defeated six hundred British soldiers . . 58
Kirk Street, Pretoria, with the State Church in the

distance 98

The Rt. Hon. Cecil J, Rhodes on the piazza of his
residence, Groote Schuur, at Rondebosch, near
Cape Town ........ 159

Cape Colony Government House, at Cape Town . 218

Cape Town and Table Mountain ..... 259

Zulu maidens shaking hands 284

Map of South Africa x

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

CHAPTER I

SOUTH AFRICA OF THE PRESENT TIME

The population of South Africa may be di-
vided into three great classes of individuals:
First, those who are only waiting for the time
when they will be able to leave the country —
the Uitlanders; second, those who hope that
that time may speedily come — the native-born
whites; and, third, those who have no hope at
all — the negroes.

The white population, south of the Zam-
bezi River, is almost as large as the population
of the city of Philadelphia. Half of the popu-
lation is Boer, or of Dutch extraction, while
the remainder consists of the other Afrikanders
and the Uitlanders. The Afrikander class com-
prises those persons who were born in the
country but of European descent, while the

2 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

Uitlanders are the foreigners who are, for the
most part, only temporary residents. The
negro population is estimated at five millions,
divided into many tribes and scattered over
many thousand miles of territory, but united
in the common cause of subdued hostility to-
ward the whites.

The discovery and first settlement of South
Africa were made about the same time that
America was being won from the Indians; but,
instead of having a people that united in the
one object of making a great and influential
nation, South Africa is rent asunder by political
intrigue, racial antagonism, and internal jeal-
ousies and strife. The Dutch and Boers have
their mutual enemies, the Uitlanders; the Cape
Colonists are unfriendly with the Natalians, yet
unite to a great extent in opposing the Dutch
and Boers; while all are the common enemy of
the black race.

Strife is incessant in the country, and a uni-
fication of interests is impossible so long as
the enmity continues. Meanwhile the natural
growth and development of the country are
retarded, and all classes suffer like consequences.

SOUTH AFRICA OF THE PRESENT TIME 3

A man who is capable of healing all the differ-
,ences and uniting all the classes in a common
bond of patriotism will be the saviour of the
country, and far greater than Kruger or Rhodes.
A fugitive bit of verse that is heard in all parts
of South Africa affords a clearer idea of the
country than can be given in pages of detailed
description. With a few expurgations, the
verse is:

" The rivers of South Africa have no waters,
The birds no song, the flowers no scent ;
The child you see has no father,

The whites go free, while the negroes pay the rent."

A person who has derived his impressions of
the physical features of the continent of Africa
from books generally concludes that it is either
a desert or a tropical wilderness throughout.
South Africa combines these two features in
such a way that the impression need not be
entirely shattered, and yet it is not a truthful
one.

South Africa is at once a tropical garden,
a waterless desert, a fertile plain, and a moun-
tainous wilderness. It has all the distinctions
of soil, climate, and physical features that are

4 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

to be found anywhere in the world, and yet in
three hundred years less than half a million
persons have found its variety agreeable enough
to become permanent residents. Along the
coast country, for one hundred miles inland,
the territory is as fertile as any in the world,
the climate salubrious, and the conditions for
settlement most agreeable. Beyond that line
is another area of several hundred miles which
consists chiefly of lofty tablelike plateaus and
forest-covered mountains.

Farther inland is the Great Karroo, a desert
of sombre renown, and beyond that the great
rolling plains of the Kimberley region, the
Orange Free State, and the Transvaal. Here,
during the dry season, the earth is covered
with brown, lifeless grass, the rays of the sun
beat down perpendicularly, and great clouds of
yellow dust obscure the horizon. No trees or
bushes are seen in a half-thousand-mile journey,
the great broad rivers are w^aterless, and the
only live objects are the lone Boer herders and
their thirsty flocks.

A month later the rainy season may com-
mence, and then the landscape becomes more

SOUTH AFRICA OF THE PRESENT TIME 5

animated. Rains, compared with which the
heaviest precipitations of the north temperate
zone are mere drizzles, continue almost inces-
santly for weeks; the plain becomes a tropical
garden, and the traveller sees some reasons for
that part of the earth's creation.

In the midst of these plains, and a thousand
miles from the Cape of Good Hope, are the
gold mines of the Randt, richer than California
and more valuable than the Klondike. The
wonder is that they were ever discovered, and
almost as marvellous is it that any one should
remain there sufficiently long to dig a thou-
sand feet below the surface to secure the hid-
den wealth. Farther north are the undevel-
oped countries, Mashonaland and Matabeleland,
the great lakes, and the relics of the civiliza-
tion that is a thousand years older than ours.

According to the American standard, the
most uninhabitable part of South Africa is the
Transvaal, that inland territory of sun and plain,
which has its only redeeming feature in its un-
derground wealth. Had Nature placed her
golden treasure in the worthless Kalahari
Desert, it would have been of easier access than

6 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

in the Transvaal, and worthy of a plausible ex-
cuse. But, excluding the question of gold, no
one except the oppressed Boers ever had the
weakest reason for settling in countries so un-
natural, unattractive, and generally unproduc-
tive as the Transvaal and the Orange Free
State.

Cape Colony and Natal, the two British
colonies on the coast, are the direct opposites
of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State
in physical and climatic conditions. The colo-
nies are comfortably settled, the soil is marvel-
lously productive, negro labour is cheap, and
everything combines to form the foundation
for a great nation.

Cape Town, the city where every one is
continually awaiting the arrival of the next mail
steamer from England, and the capital of Cape
Colony, is a modern city of fifty thousand in-
habitants, mostly English. It was the metrop-
olis of the country until Johannesburg was born
in a day, and caused it to become a mere point
in transit. The city has electric lights, electric
street railways, fine docks, excellent railways
into the interior, and all the other attributes

SOUTH AFRICA OF THE PRESENT TIME 7

of an English city, with the possible exception
that it requires a four-weeks' passage to reach
London.

It is a city of which Englishmen are proud,
for its statue of Queen Victoria is beautiful,
the Government society is exclusive, " Tommy
Atkins " is there in regiments, and the British
flag floats on every staff. Cape Town, too, is
the home of the politicians who manage the
Colonial Offlce, which in turn has charge of
the South African colonial affairs. Two cable
lines lead from South Africa to London, and
both dive into the ocean at Cape Town, where
live Cecil J. Rhodes, Sir Alfred Milner, and the
other politicians who furnish the cablegrams
and receive the replies. Farther north on the
east coast, about three days' sail around the
Cape, is the colony of Natal, peaceful, para-
disaical, and proud. Taken by conquest from
the Zulus a half century ago, it has already
distanced its four-times-older competitor,
Cape Colony, in almost all things that pertain
to the development of a country. Being fif-
teen hundred miles farther from London
than Cape Town, it has escaped the political

8 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

swash of that city, and has been able to plough
its own path in the sea of colonial settle-
ment.

Almost all of Natal is included in the fer-
tile coast territory, and consequently has been
able to offer excellent inducements to intend-
ing settlers. The majority of these have been
Scotchmen of sturdy stock, and these have
established a diminutive Scotland in South
Africa, and one that is a model for the entire
continent. Within the last year the colony has
annexed the adjoining country of the Zulus,
which, even if it accomplishes nothing more
practical, increases the size of the colony. Dur-
ban, the entry port of the colony, is the New-
port of South Africa, as well as its Colorado
Springs. Its wade, palm-and-flower-fringed
streets, its 'ricksha Zulus, its magnificent sub-
urbs, and its healthful climate combine to make
Durban the finest residence city on the Dark
Continent. Pietermaritzburg, the capital of the
colony, on the other hand, has nothing but its
age to commend it. The colony produces vast
quantities of cofYee, tea, sugar, and fruits, al-
most all of which is marketed in Johannesburg,

SOUTH AFRICA OF THE PRESENT TIME g

in the Transvaal, which is productive of noth-
ing but gold and strife.

The Orange Free State, which, with the
Transvaal, form the only non-English states in
South Africa, also lies in the plain or veldt
district, and is of hardly any commercial impor-
tance. Three decades ago it found itself in al-
most the same situation with England as the
Transvaal is to-day, but, unlike the South Afri-
can republic, feared to demand its rights from
the British Government. At that time the Kim-
berley diamond mines were discovered on ac-
knowledged Free State soil. England pur-
chased an old native chief's claims, which had
been disallowed by a court of arbitration, and
pushed them as its own. The Free State was
weak, and agreed to forfeit its claim in return
for a sum of four hundred and fifty thousand
dollars. The mines, now owned by a syndi-
cate, of which Cecil J. Rhodes is the head, have
yielded more than four hundred million dollars'
worth of diamonds since the Free State ceded
them to England for less than half a million
dollars.

The natives, who less than one hundred

lO OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

years ago ruled the whole of South Africa with
the exception of a small fraction of Cape Col-
ony and several square miles on the east coast,
have been relegated by the advances of civiliza-
tion, until now they hold only small territories,
or reservations, in the different colonies and
republics. They are making slow progress in
the arts of civilization, except in Cape Colony,
where, under certain conditions, they are al-
lowed to exercise the franchise, and on the
whole have profited but little by the advent of
the whites, notwithstanding the efforts of mis-
sionaries and governments. They smart under
the treatment of the whites, who, having forci-
bly taken their country from them, now compel
them to pay rental for the worst parts of the
country, to which they are circumscribed, and
to wear brass tags, with numbers, like so many
cattle.

Comparatively few natives work longer than
three months of the year, and would not do that
except for the fear of punishment for non-pay-
ment of hut taxes. With the exception of those
who are employed in the towns and cities, the
negroes wxar the same scanty costumes of their

SOUTH AFRICA OF THE PRESENT TIME n

forefathers, and follow the same customs and
.practices. Witchcraft and superstition still rule
the minds of the majority, and the former is
practised in all its cruel hideousness in many
parts of the country, although prohibited by law.

The sale of rum, the great American '' civi-
lizer " of the Indians, is also prohibited in all
the states and colonies, but it frequently is the
cause of rebellious and intertribal wars. Not-
withstanding the generous use of *' dum-dum "
bullets in the recent campaigns against the
negroes, and the score of other agents of civi-
lization which carry death to the natives, the
black population has increased greatly since
the control of the country has been taken from
them. In Natal, particularly, the increase in
the Zulu population has been most threaten-
ing to the continued safety of that energetic
colony. The Colonial Office, through gener-
ous and humanitarian motives, has fostered the
development of the native by every means pos-
sible. No rabbit warren or pheasant hatchery
w^as ever conducted on a more modern basis.

Everything that the most enthusiastic found-
er of a new colony could do to increase the

12 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

population of his dominion is in practice in
Natal. Polygamy is not prohibited, and is in-
dulged in to the full extent of the natives' pur-
chasing ability. Innumerable magistrates and
police are scattered throughout the country to
prevent internecine warfare and petty quarrels.
The Government protects the Zulu from ex-
ternal war, pestilence, and famine. King Tsha-
ka's drastic method of recurring to war in order
to keep down the surplus population has been
succeeded by the Natal incubation scheme,
which has proved so successful that the colony's
native population is fourfold greater than it was
when Tshaka ruled the country. The situa-
tion is a grave one for the colony, whose fifty
thousand whites would be like so many reeds
in a storm if the half million Zulus should break
the bonds in which they have been held since
the destruction of Cetewayo's army in the re-
cent Zulu war.

The only tribe of natives that has made any
progress as a body is that which is under the
leadership of King Khama, the most intelligent
negro in South Africa. Before his conversion
to Christianity, Khama was at the head of one

SOUTH AFRICA OF THE PRESENT TIME 13

of the most bloodthirsty, polygamous, and ig-
norant tribes in the country. Since that event
he has been the means of converting his entire
tribe of wild and treacherous negroes to Chris-
tianity, has abandoned polygamy and tribal war-
fare, and has established a government, schools,
churches, and commercial enterprises. In ad-
dition to all his other good works, he has as-
sisted Great Britain in pacifying many bel-
ligerent tribes, and has become England's
greatest friend in South Africa.

Khama is the paramount chief of the Ba-
w^angwato tribe, whose territory is included in
the British Bechuanaland protectorate, situated
about one thousand miles due north from Cape
Town. There are about fifteen thousand men,
women, and children in the kingdom, and every
one of that number tries to emulate the noble
examples set by their king, whom all adore.
The country and climate of Khama's Kingdom,
as it is officially called, are magnificent, and so
harmless and inoffensive are the people that
the traveller is less exposed to attacks by ma-
rauders than he is in the streets along New
York's water front.

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

Many Europeans have settled in Khama's
Kingdom for the purpose of mining and trad-
ing, and these have assisted in placing the
Bawangwatos on a plane of civilization far above
and beyond that attained by any other negro
nation or tribe in the country. A form of gov-
ernment has been adopted, and is carried out
with excellent results. The laws, which must
be sanctioned by the British Government be-
fore they can be put in force, are transgressed
with an infrequency that puts to shame many
a country of boasted ancient civilization. Theft
is unknown and murders are unheard of, while
drunkenness is to be seen only when a white
man smuggles liquor into the country. A pub-
lic-school system has been introduced, and has
resulted in giving a fairly good education to all
the youth. Even music is taught, and several
of the brass bands that have been organized
compare favourably with such as are found in
many rural communities in x\merica.

Well-regulated farms and cattle ranches are
located in all parts of the territory, and in most
instances are profitably and wisely conducted.
The negroes have abandoned the use of beads

SOUTH AFRICA OF THE PRESENT TIME 15

and skins almost entirely, and now pattern after
Europeans in the matter of clothing. Witch-
craft and kindred vices have not been practised
for fifty years, and only the older members of
the tribe know that such practices existed. The
remarkable man to whom is due the honour
of having civilized an entire nation of heathen
is now about eighty years old. He speaks the
English language fluently, and writes it much
more legibly than his distinguished friend Cecil
Rhodes.

Khama is about six feet in height, well pro-
portioned, and remarkably strong despite his
great age. His skin is not black, but of that
dark copper colour borne by negro chiefs of
the royal line. He has the bearing of a noble-
man, and is extremely polite and affable in his
treatment of visitors. He is well informed
on all current topics, and his knowledge of
South African men and affairs is wonderful. In
his residence, wdiich is constructed of stone
and on English lines, Khama has all the acces-
sories necessary for a civilized man's comfort.
He has a library of no small size, a piano
for his grandchildren, a folding bed for him-

1 6 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

self, and, not least of all, an American carriage
of state.

It is a strange anomaly that the Boers, a
pastoral people exclusively, should have settled
in a section of the earth where Nature has two
of her richest storehouses. Both the Kimber-
ley diamond mines and the Witwatersrandt gold
mines, each the richest deposit of its kind dis-
covered thus far, were found where the Boers
w^ere accustomed to graze their herds and flocks.
It would seem as if Nature had influenced the
Boers to settle above her treasures, and pro-
tect them from the attacks of nations and men
who are not satisfied with the products of the
earth's surface, but must delve below.

This circumstance has been both fortunate
and unfortunate for the Boer people. It has
laid them open to the attacks of covetous na-
tions, which have not been conducive to a rest-
ful existence, but it has made their country
what it is to-day — the source from which all
the other South African states draw their means
of support. The Transvaal is the main wheel
in the South African machinery. Whenever
the Transvaal is disturbed, Cape Colony, Natal,

SOUTH AFRICA OF THE PRESENT TIME 17

and the Orange Free State are similarly af-
fected, because they are dependent upon the
Boer country for almost their breath of life.
When the Transvaal flourishes, South Africa
flourishes, and when the Transvaal suffers, then
the rest of the country is in dire straits.

Before the diamond and gold mines were
discovered, South Africa was practically a cipher
in the commercial world. The country ex-
ported nothing, because it produced no more
than was needed for home consumption, and
it could import nothing because it was too poor
to pay for imported goods. The discovery of
the diamond mines twenty-five years ago caused
the country to be in a flourishing condition for
several years, but the formation of the De
Beers syndicate ended it by monopolizing the
industry, and consequently starving the indi-
vidual miners. The country was about to re-
lapse into its former condition when the Trans-
vaal mines were unearthed. No syndicate hav-
ing been strong enough to consolidate all the
mines and monopolize the industry, as was done
at Kimberley, and the Boers having resisted
all efforts to defraud them out of the valuable

1 8 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

part of their country, as had happened to the
Orange Free State Boers, the Transvaal soon
attained the paramount position in the coun-
try, and has retained it since.

Until Lobengula, the mighty native chief
of the regions west of the Transvaal, was sub-
dued and his country taken from him, the Brit-
ish empire builders w^ere limited in their field
of endeavour, because the Transvaal was the
only pass through which an entry could be
made into the vast Central African region.
When Lobengula's power yielded to British
arms, the Transvaal became useless as the key
to Central Africa, but, by means of its great
mineral wealth, became of so much greater and
more practical importance that it really was
the entire South Africa.

The Witwatersrandt,* the narrow strip of
gold-bearing soil which extends for almost one
hundred miles east and west through the Trans-
vaal, is the lever wdiich moves the entire coun-

* Witwatersrandt is the name given to the high ridge in
the southern part of the Transvaal, which is the watershed
between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The word means
"Whitewater ridge," and is commonly abridged to "The
Randt."

SOUTH AFRICA OF THE PBESENT TIME jg

try. In the twelve years since its discovery it
h'as been transformed from a grass-covered plain
into a territory that is filled with cities, towns,
and villages. Where the Boer farmer w^as ac-
customed to graze his cattle are hundreds of
shafts that lead to the golden caverns below,
and the trail of the ox-team is now the track
of the locomotive and the electric cars.

The farmer's cottage has developed into
the city of Johannesburg, the home of more
than one hundred thousand persons and the
metropolis of a continent. All the roads in
South Africa lead to Johannesburg, and over
them travels every one who enters the country
either for pleasure or business. The Trans-
vaal is the only great producer of money, as
well as the only great consumer, and conse-
quently all other communities in the country
are dependent upon it for whatever money it
chooses to yield to them. The natural condi-
tions are such, however, that, while the Trans-
vaal has almost all the money in South Africa,
it is compelled to support Cape Colony, Natal,
and the Orange Free State like so many poor
relations.

20 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

The Transvaal, being an inland state, is the
feeding ground of those states which are lo-
cated between it and the sea. Every ton of
foreign freight that enters the Transvaal through
Cape Colony is subject to high customs duties
and abnormal freight rates. The railway and
the customs house being under the same juris-
diction, it will readily be seen to what extent
Cape Colony derives its revenues from the
Transvaal commerce. The Orange Free State
again taxes the freight before allowing it to
pass through its territory. The third tax, which
makes the total far greater than the original
cost of the freight, is added by the Transvaal
Government. Certain classes of freight shipped
from Europe are taxed by the steamship line,
the Cape Colony Railroad, the Transvaal Rail-
road, and with Cape Colony, Orange Free State,
and Transvaal customs duties.

This vast expenditure is borne by the con-
sumers in the Transvaal, who are compelled
to pay from three to five times as much for
rent and food as is paid in England or America.
Cape Colony, in particular, has been fattening
upon the Transvaal. The Government rail-

SOUTH AFRICA OF THE PRESENT TIME 2I

roads in one year showed a profit of more than
eight per cent, upon the capital invested, after
accounting for the great losses incurred with
unprofitable branch lines, showing that the
main line to the Transvaal must have produced
a profit of from fifteen to twenty per cent. The
customs duties collected by Cape Colony on
almost all freight in transit is five per cent, of
its value. The inhabitants of the Transvaal are
obliged to pay these large amounts, and are
so much poorer while the Cape Colony Gov-
ernment preys upon them. The Transvaal
Government receives none of this revenue ex-
cept that from its customs, which is insufficient
for its expenses.

After having grown wealthy in this man-
ner, the colony of Natal has recently become
conscience-smitten, and allows freight to pass
in transit without taxing it with customs duties.
The Government owns the railroad, and is con-
tent with the revenue it secures from the Trans-
vaal freight w^ithout twice preying upon the
republic.

Not only have the colonial governments
profited by the existence of the gold mines in

22 COM PAUL'S PEOPLE

the Transvaal, but the cities, towns, and indi-
viduals of Cape Colony, Natal, and the Orange
Free State have also had a period of unpar-
alleled prosperity. Although the natural re-
sources of the Transvaal are very great, they
have not been developed, and the other colo-
nies which have been developed along those
lines are supplying the deficit. Almost every
ounce of food consumed in the Transvaal ar-
rives from over the border. Natal and Cape
Colony supply the corn, wheat, cattle, and
sugar, and, having a monopoly of the supply
close at hand, can command any price for their
commodities.

Industries have grow^n up in Natal and
Cape Colony that are entirely dependent upon
the Transvaal for their existence, and their
establishment has been responsible for much
of the recent growth of the population of the
colonies. The large sugar factories and fruit
farms in Natal have the only market for their
products in the Transvaal, and the large farms
and vineyards in Cape Colony supply the same
demand. The ports of Durban, Port Eliza-
beth, and East London, as well as Cape Town,

SOUTH AFRICA OF THE PRESENT TIME 23

are important only as forwarding stations for
goods going or coming from the Transvaal,
and but for that Godsend they would still be
the listless cities that they were before the dis-
covery of gold on the Randt. Owing to the
lack of raw material, the cities have no large
factories and industries such as are found even
in small American towns, and consequently the
inhabitants are obliged to depend upon the traf-
fic with the interior. Notwithstanding this
condition of affairs, which causes Natal and
Cape Colony to be commercial weaklings,
swayed by the Transvaal tide, the colonists are
continually harassing the Government of the
republic by laws and suggestions. The repub-
lic's mote is always bigger than the colonies'
own, and the strife is never-ending.

The Transvaal is a country of such enor-
mous value that it has attracted, and will con-
tinue to attract, investors from all parts of the
earth. The gold production, in the opinion of
the first experts on the Randt, will rapidly
reach one hundred and twenty-five million dol-
lars a year. It already yields one hundred
million a year, or more than a third of the

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

world's production, of which the United States
is credited with less than seventy-five million.
The very fact of that production, and the world
being enriched to that extent, will provide the
money for further enterprises. So long as
the gold supply continues to appear inex-
haustible, and mines continue to pay divi-
dends ranging from one to one hundred and
fifty per cent., so long will the Transvaal re-
main supreme in the commerce and finance of
South Africa.

CHAPTER II

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE

The early history of the Boers is contem-
poraneous with that of the progress of white
man's civilization at the Cape of Good Hope.
The two are interwoven to such an extent
and for so long a time that it is well-nigh
impossible to separate them. In order to give
an unwearisome history of the modern Boer's
ancestors, a general outline of the settlement
of the Cape will suffice.

The history of the Boers of South Africa
has its parallel in that of the early Pilgrims
who landed at Plymouth Rock and their de-
scendants. The comparison favours the lat-
ter, it is true, but the conditions which con-
fronted the early Boers were so much less
favourable that their lack of realization may
easily be accounted for. In the early part of

the seventeenth century the progenitors of the

26 COM PAUL'S PEOPLE

Boers and the Pilgrims left their continental
homes to seek freedom from religious tyranny
on foreign shores.

The boat load of Pilgrims left England to
come to America and found the freedom they
sought. About the same time a small num-
ber of Dutch and Huguenot refugees from
France departed from Holland for similar rea-
sons, and decided to seek their fortunes and
reHgious freedom at the Cape of Good Hope.
There they found the Hberty they desired, and,
like the Pilgrims, assiduously set to work to
clear the land and institute the works of a
civilized community.

The experiences of the two widely sepa-
rated colonists appear painfully similar, al-
though to them they were undoubtedly pref-
erable to the persecutions inflicted upon them
in their native countries. The Pilgrims were
constantly harassed by the savage Indians;
the Dutch and Huguenots at the Cape had
treacherous Hottentots and Bushmen to con-
tend against. Although probably ignorant of
each other's existence, the two parties con-
ducted their affairs on similar lines and reached

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE 27

a common result — a good local government
and a reasonable state of material prosperity.

The little South African settlement be-
came of recognised importance in the later
years of the century, when it was made the
halfway station of all ships going to and re-
turning from the East Indies. The neces-
sity for such a station was the foundation of
the growth of the settlement at Table Bay,
which is only a short distance from the south-
ernmost extremity of the continent, and the
increase in population came as a natural se-
quence.

The Dutch East India Settlement, as it
was officially called, attracted hundreds of im-
migrants. The reports of a salubrious climate,
good soil, and, more than all, the promised
religious toleration, were the allurements that
brought more immigrants from Holland, Ger-
many, and France. Cape Town even then was
one of the most important ports in the world,
owing to its great strategic value and to the
fact that it was about the only port where
vessels making the long trip to the East In-
dies could secure even the scantiest supplies.

28 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

The provisioning of ships was responsible, in
no small degree, for the growth of Cape Town
and the coincident increase in immigration.

When all the available land between Table
Mountain and Table Bay was settled, the new
arrivals naturally took up the land to the
northward, and drove the bellicose natives be-
fore them. Like their Pilgrim prototypes,
they instituted military organizations to cope
with the natives, and they were not infrequent-
ly called upon for active duty against them.
It was owing to this savage disposition of
the natives that the settlers confined their
endeavours to the vicinity of Table Bay.

When immigrants became more numerous
and land increased in value, the pilgrims of
more daring disposition proceeded inland, and
soon carried the northeastern boundary of the
settlement close to the Orange River. The
soil around Table Bay was extremely rich,
but farther inland it became barren and, by
reason of the many lofty table-lands, almost
uninhabitable. The Bushmen, too, were con-
stantly attacking the encroaching settlers,
whose lives were filled with anything but

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE 29

thoughts of safety, and high in the northern
side of Table Mountain is to be seen to-day
an old-time fort that was erected by the set-
tlers to ward off natives' attacks upon Cape
Town.

The Dutch East India Company, which
controlled the settlement, looked with disfa-
vour upon the enlargement of the original
boundary of the colony, and attempted to en-
force laws preventing such action. The settlers
in the outlying district felt that they owed no
allegiance to the laws of the colony in which
they did not live, and refused to obey the
company's mandates. Then followed a long-
drawn-out controversy between the settlers
and the East India Company, which resembled
in many respects the differences between Eng-
land and her American colony.

It was during this period of oppression
that the settlers of the Cape of Good Hope
first exhibited the betokening signs of a nation.
The communities of Hollanders, Germans, and
French were constantly in such close communi-
cation with one another that each lost its dis-
tinguishing marks and adopted the new man-

/ -J.

30 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

ners and customs which were their collective
coinage. They suffered the same indignities
at the hands of the East India Company, and
naturally their sympathies drew them into a
closer bond of fellowship, so that almost all
national and racial differences were wiped out.

Never in the history of South Africa were
all things so favourable for the establishment
of a truly Afrikander nation and government.
A leader was all that was necessary to throw
off the yoke of continental control, but none
was forthcoming.

At this propitious time the Napoleonic
wars in Europe resulted so disastrously for
France that she was compelled to cede to
England the South African settlement, which
had been acquired with the annexation of
Holland, and the settlers believed their hour
of deliverance from tyranny had arrived. They
hailed the coming of the British forces with
hopes for the improvement of their conditions,
fondly believing that the British could treat
them with no greater severity than that which
they had suffered under the rule of the Dutch
Company.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE 31

But their hopes were short-lived after the
British garrison occupied Cape Town, and they
soon learned that they had escaped from one
kind of torment and oppression only to be
burdened with another more harassing. The
British administrators fotmd a friendly people,
eager to become British subjects, and, by ex-
ercise of undue authority, quickly transformed
them into desperate enemies of British rule.
The American colonies had but a short time
before taught British colonial statesmen a dire
lesson, but it was not applied to the South
African colony, and the mistake has never
been remedied.

Had the lesson learned in America been
apphed at that time, British rule would now
be supreme in South Africa, and the two re-
publics which are the eyesore of every Eng-
lishman in the country would probably never
have come into existence. The British ad-
ministrators ruled the colony as they had been
taught in London, and allowed no local im-
pediments to swerve them. The result of this
method of government was that the Boer set-
tlers, who had opinions of their own, became

22 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

bitterly opposed to the British rule. The ad-
ministrators attempted to coerce the Boers,
and formulated laws which were meat to the
newly arrived English immigrants and poison
to the old settlers.

One of the indirect causes of the first Boer
uprising against the British Government at
the Cape was the slavery question. In the
Transvaal there is a national holiday — March
6th — to commemorate the uprising of 1816,
and it is known throughout the country as
'' Slagter's Nek Day." To the Boers it is a
day of sad memory, and the recurrence of it
does not soften their enmity of the English
nation.

In October, 181 5, a Boer farmer named
Frederick Bezuidenhout was summoned to ap-
pear in a local court to answer a charge of
maltreating a native. The Boer refused to
obey the summons, and, with a sturdy native,
awaited the arrival of the Government authori-
ties in a cave near his home. A lieutenant
named Rousseau and twenty soldiers found
the Boer and the native in the cave, and de-
manded their surrender. Bezuidenhout refused

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE 33

to surrender, and he was almost instantly
killed.

When the news of his death reached his
friends they became greatly aroused, and, arm-
ing themselves, vowed to expel the English
'' tyrants " from the country. The English
soldiers captured five of the leaders, and on
March 6, 181 6, hanged them on the same
scaffold at Slagter's Nek, a name afterward
given to the locality because of the bungling
work of the hangmen and the ghastly scenes
presented when the scaffold fell to the ground,
bearing with it the half-dead prisoners.

The story of this event in the Boer history
is as familiar to the Dutch schoolboy as that
of the Boston Tea-Party is to the American
lad, and its repetition never fails to arouse a
Boer audience to the highest degree of anger.

The primal cause of the departure of the
Boers from Cape Colony, or the " Great
Trek," * as it is popularly known, was the ill
treatment which they received from the Brit-

* To trek is to travel from place to place in ox-wagons.
A trek generally refers to an organized migration of settlers
to another part of the country.

34 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

ish administration in connection with the
emancipation of their slaves and the depreda-
tions of hordes of thieving native tribes. The
Boers had agreed about 1830 to emancipate
all their slaves, and they had received from
the British Government promises of ample
compensation.

After the slaves had been freed, and tlie
majority of the Boer farmers had become bank-
rupt by the proceeding, the Government of-
fered less than half the promised compensa-
tion. The Boers naturally and indignantly
refused to accept less than the amounts Eng-
land had promised of her own free will. The
Boers felt sorely aggrieved, but, being in the
minority in the colony, could secure no redress.
Several years after the slaves had been freed
great hordes of thieving natives swept across
the frontiers, and in several . months inflicted
these losses upon the farmers: 706 farmhouses
partially or totally destroyed by fire; 60 farm
wagons destroyed; 5,713 horses, 112,000 head
of cattle, and 162,000 sheep stolen.

The value of the property destroyed and
stolen by the blacks amounted to almost two

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE 35

million dollars. Much of the live stock was
recovered by the Boer farmers, who had the
boldness to pursue the robbers into their
mountain fastnesses, but the Government did
not allow them to hold even such cattle as
they identified as having been driven away by
the natives, but compelled them to yield all
to the Government. When they asked for
compensation for restoring the property to
the Government, the Boers received such a
promise from the governor, D'Urban; but Lord
Glenelg, the British colonial secretary, vetoed
the suggestion, and informed the Boers that
their conduct in recovering the stolen prop-
erty was outrageous and unworthy of English
subjects.

Even Boer disposition, inured as it was to
all kinds of unrighteousness, could not fail to
take notice of this crowning insult. They con-
sulted among themselves, and it was decided
to leave the colony where they had suffered
so many wrongs. Accordingly, in the spring
of 1835 they sacrificed their farms at what-
ever prices they could secure for them, and an-
nounced to Lieutenant-Governor Stockenstrom

36 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

their intention of departing to another sec-
tion of the country.

To be certain that they would be free from
British interference, the Boer leaders applied
to the lieutenant-governor for his opinion on
the subject, and he informed them that they
were free to leave the colony, and that as
soon as they stepped across the border Eng-
land ceased to be their master. Later, Eng-
lishmen have sagely declared that the Boers
having once been British subjects always re-
mained such, whether they lived on British or
Transvaal soil. The objects of the expedition
were set forth in a document published in
1837 by Piet Retief, its leader. It reads, in
part, as follows:

'' We despair of saving the colony from
those evils which threaten it by the turbulent
and dishonest conduct of native vagrants who
are allowed to infest the country in every part;
nor do we see any prospect of peace or hap-
piness for our children in a country thus dis-
tracted by internal commotions.

'' We complain of the continual system of
plunder which we have for years endured from

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE 37

the Kaffirs and other coloured classes, and
particularly by the last invasion of the colony,
which has desolated the frontier districts and
ruined most of the inhabitants.

*' We complain of the unjustifiable odium
which has been cast upon us by interested and
dishonest persons under the name of religion,
whose testimony is believed in England, to
the exclusion of all evidence in our favour,
and we can foresee as a result of this preju-
dice nothing but the total ruin of the country.

" We are now leaving the fruitful land of
our birth, in which we have suffered enor-
mous losses and continual vexations, and are
about to enter a strange and dangerous terri-
tory; but we go with a firm reliance on an
all-seeing, just, and merciful God, whom we
shall always fear and humbly endeavour to
obey."

The first '' trekking " party, or the '' Voor-
trekkers," consisted of about two hundred per-
sons under the leadership of Andries Hendrik
Potgieter. These crossed the Orange River
and settled in that part of the country now
known as the Orange Free State. This party

38 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

had many battles with the natives, but suc-
ceeded in securing a level although not par-
ticularly arable stretch of land near Thaba'nt-
shu for settlement.

In August, 1836, after remaining a short
time in the neighbourhood of Thaba'ntshu, a
number of the settlers becamic dissatisfied
with their location and " trekked " farther
north toward the Vaal River, which is the
present northern boundary of the Orange Free
State. Before they had proceeded a great dis-
tance they were attacked by the Matabele
natives under Chief Moselekatse, and fifty of
their number were slain.

When the news of the slaughter reached
the main body of the settlers a '' laager," or
improvised fort, was formed by locking to-
gether the fifty big transport wagons that had
been brought from Cape Colony. Behind
these the men, w^omen, and children fought
side by side against the innumerable Mata-
beles, and after a desperate battle succeeded in
defeating them. The natives captured and drove
away about ten thousand head of cattle and sheep
— almost the entire wealth of the settlers.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE

The settlement, however, increased rapidly
in population, and, several years after the first
Boers arrived there, application was made for
English protection. It was granted to them,
but was withdrawn again in 1854, when the
British colonial secretary decided that Eng-
land had more African land than was desirable.
The Boers begged to be retained as an Eng-
lish colony, but in vain, and the fifteen thou-
sand inhabitants were compelled to establish
a government of their own, which is to-day
embodied in that of the Orange Free State.

Since that memorable day in 1854, when
the British flag was hauled down from the
flagstafif at the Bloemfontein fort, both the
British and the Boers have had revulsions of
feeHng. The British regret that their fiag is
absent from the fort, and the Boers will yield
their lives before they ever allow it to be
raised again.

The second expedition, and the one which
comprised the founders of the South African
Republic, departed from Cape Colony in the
fall of 1835, with no fixed destination in view,
but with a general idea to settle somewhere

40 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

outside the realm of British influence. The
" trekkers " were under the leadership of Piet
Retief, a man of considerable wealth and exec-
utive ability, who determined to lead them
across the untravelled Dragon Mountain, in
the east of the colony.

In this party were three families of Krugers,
and among them the present President of the
South African RepubUc, then a boy of ten
years. After many skirmishes with the na-
tives, Retief and his followers reached Port
Natal, the site of the present beautiful city of
Durban, where they were welcomed by the
members of the English settlement who had
established themselves on the edge of Zululand
as an independent organization. The handful
of British immigrants were overjoyed to have
this addition to the forces which were neces-
sary to hold the natives in subjection, and
they induced the majority of the Boers to set-
tle in the vicinity of Port Natal.

Retief and his leaders were pleased with
the location and the richness of the soil, and
finally determined to remain there if the na-
tive chiefs could be induced to enter into

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE 41

treaties transferring all rights to the soil. Din-
gaan, a warlike native, was the chief of the
tribes surrounding Port Natal, and to him
Retief applied for the grant of territory which
was to be the future home of the several thou-
sand '' trekkers " who had by that time jour-
neyed over Dragon Mountain. Retief and his
party of seventy, and thirty native servants,
reached Dingaan's capital in January, 1838,
and took with them as a peace-offering several
hundred head of cattle which had been stolen
from Dingaan by another tribe and recovered
by Retief.

Dingaan treated the Boers with great cour-
tesy, and profusely thanked them for recover-
ing his stolen cattle. After several interviews
he ceded to the Boers the large territory from
the Tugela to the Umzimvubu River, from the
Dragon Mountain to the sea. This territory
included almost the entire colony of Natal, as
now constituted, and was one of the richest
parts of South Africa.

On February 4, 1838, when the treaty had
been signed and the Boer leaders were being
entertained by the chief in his hut, a typical

42 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

massacre by the natives was enacted. At a
signal from Dingaan, which is recorded as hav-
ing been " Bulala abatagati " ('' Slay the white
devils!"), the Zulus sprang upon the unarmed
Boers and massacred the seventy men with
assegais and clubs before they could make the
slightest resistance.

Frenzied by the sight of the white men's
blood, the Zulu chieftain gathered his hordes
in warlike preparation, and determined to drive
all the white settlers out of the country. A
large " impi," or war party, was despatched to
attack and exterminate the remaining whites
in their camps on the Tugela and Bushmans
Rivers. These latter, while anxiously await-
ing Retief's return, were in no fear of hostili-
ties, and the men for the most part were ab-
sent from their camps on hunting trips.

The '' impi " swept down upon the camps
by night, and murder of the foulest descrip-
tion prevailed. The Zulus spared none; men,
women, and children, cattle, goats, sheep, and
dogs — all fell under the ruthless assegais in the
hands of the treacherous savages. In the con-
fusion and darkness a few of the Boers escaped,

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE 43

among them having been the Pretorius and
R^nsburg famiUes, which have since been high
in the councils of the Boer nation. Four-
teen men and boys took refuge on a hill now
called Rensburg Kop, and held their as-
sailants at bay while they improvised a
'' laager."

When their ammunition was almost ex-
pended and their spirit exhausted, a white
man on horseback was observed in the rear
of the Zulu warriors. The hard-pressed emi-
grants signalled to him, and his ready mind,
strained to the utmost tension, grasped the
situation at a glance. He fearlessly turned his
horse and rode to the abandoned wagons, al-
most a mile away, to secure some of the am-
munition that had been left behind by the
Boers when they were attacked by the Zulus.
He loaded himself and his horse with powder
and ball from the wagons, and with a courage
that has never been surpassed rode headlong
through the Zulu battle lines and bore to the
beleaguered Boers the means of their subse-
quent salvation. That night the fearless rider
assisted the fourteen Boers in routing the

44 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

Zulus, and when morning dawned not a sin-
gle living Zulu was to be seen.

The hero of that ride was Marthinus Oos-
thuyse, and his fame in South Africa rivals
that of Paul Revere in American history.
With the coming of the day the scattered
emigrants congregated in a large " laager,"
and for several days were engaged in beating
off the attacks of the unsatiated Zulus. Wives,
daughters, and sweethearts served the ammu-
nition to the men, and with hatchets and clubs
aided them in the uneven struggle.

After the Zulus' spirit had been broken
and they commenced to retreat, the gallant
pioneers, their strength now increased by the
addition of many stragglers, pursued their late
assailants and killed hundreds of them. The
tow^n of Weenen, in Natal, takes its name
from the weeping of the Boers for their dead.
Rightly w^as it named, for no less than six
hundred of the emigrants were massacred by
the Zulus in the neighbourhood of the present
site of the town.

While this massacre was in progress Din-
gaan and another part of his vast and well-

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE 45

trained army set out to wreak destruction
upon the main body of the Boers which was
still encamped upon the Dragon Mountain
waiting for the return of Retief and his party.
When the news of the massacre reached the
main body, Pieter Uys and Potgieter hastened
to re-enforce their distressed countrymen. They
were not molested on the way, and had am-
ple time to marshal all the Boer forces in
the country and make preparations for venge-
ance upon the savages.

A force of three hundred and fifty men
was raised, and this set out in the month of
April, 1838, to attack Dingaan in his strong-
hold. The Zulu army was encountered near
the King's '' Great Place." The small army
of Boers rode to within twenty yards of the
van of the Zulus and then opened a steady
and deadly fire. The savage weapons were no
match for the poor yet superior firearms of
the Boers, and in a short time Dingaan's
army was in full retreat. In pursuing them
the Boers became separated and had great
difficulty in fighting their way back to the
main camp.

46 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

The story of how Pieter Uys was wounded
by an assegai, and how his son, in endeavour-
ing to save him, was pierced by a spear, is
one of the noblest examples of heroism in the
annals of South Africa. There were several
more skirmishes with the Zulus, but the battle
that broke the strength of the tribe was fought
on December 16, 1838. There were but four
hundred and sixty Boers in the army that
attacked Dingaan's army of twelve thousand,
but the attack was so minutely planned and
so admirably executed that the smaller force
overwhelmed the greater and won the victory,
which is annually observed on " Dingaan's
Day."

The Boers lay fortified in a '' laager," and
with unusual fortitude withstood the terrific
onslaughts of the thousands of Zulus. Finally
a cavalry charge of two hundred Boers cre-
ated a panic in the Zulu army, and they re-
treated precipitously toward the Blood River,
which was so named because its waters liter-
ally ran red with the life fluid of four hundred
warriors who were shot on its banks or w^hile
attempting to ford it. On that day three

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE

thousand Zulus perished, and Dingaan made
his ruin still more complete by burning his
capital and hiding with his straggling army
in the wilderness beyond the Tugela River.

After these grave experiences the Boer
settlers believed themselves to be the rightful
owners of the country which they had first
sought to obtain by peaceful methods and
afterward been compelled to take by sterner
ones. But when they reached Port Natal they
found that the British Government had taken
possession of the country, and had issued a
manifesto that the immigrant Boers were to
be treated as a conquered race, and that their
arms and ammunition should be confiscated.

To the Boers, who had just made the
country valuable by clearing it of the Zulus,
this high-handed action of the British Govern-
ment had the appearance of persecution, and
they naturally resented it, although they were
almost powerless to oppose it by force of arms.

The Boer leader, Commandant-General Pre-
torius, who had been chosen by the first
" Volksraad " — a governing body elected while
the journey from Cape Colony to Natal was

48 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

being made — led a number of his countrymen
to the outskirts of Durban and formed a camp
near that of the British garrison. He sent a
message to Captain Smith, the commander of
the British force of several hundred soldiers,
and demanded the surrender of his position.
In reply Smith led one hundred and fifty of
his soldiers in a moonlight attack on the Boer
forces and was completely routed.

The Boers then besieged Durban for twen-
ty-six days and killed many of the English
soldiers, but on the twenty-seventh day a
schooner load of soldiers from Cape Colony
augmented the forces of Captain Smith, and
Pretorius was compelled to relinquish his ef-
forts to secure control of the territory that
his countrymen had a short time previously
won from the Zulus.

Disheartened by their successive failures to
secure a desirable part of the country wdierein
they might settle, the Boers again '' trekked "
northward over the Dragon Mountain. There
they occupied the territory south of the Vaal
River which had a short time previously been
deserted by Potgieter and his party, who had

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE ^g

journeyed northward with the intention of
joining the Portuguese colony at Delagoa Bay,
on the Indian Ocean.

These pilgrims were attacked by the dead-
ly fever of the Portuguese country, and after
remaining a short time in that region moved
again and settled in different localities in the
northern part of the territory now included in
the South African RepubHc. Moselekatse and
his Matabele warriors having been driven out
of the country by the other " trekking " par-
ties, the extensive region north of the Vaal
River was then in undisputed possession of
the Boers.

The farmers who left Cape Colony in 1835
and 1836 in different parties and after various
vicissitudes settled across the Vaal were less
than sixteen thousand in number, and were
scattered over a large area of territory. The
nature of the country and the enmity of the
leaders of the parties prevented a close union
among them, although a legislative assembly,
called a " Volksraad," was estabUshed after
much disorder. The four principal " trek-
king " parties had sought four of the most

50 COM PAUL'S PEOPLE

fertile spots in the newly discovered territo-
ry, and established the villages of Utrecht,
Lydenburg, Potchefstrom, and Zoutpans-
berg.

When the Volksraad was found to be in-
adequate to meet the requirements of the situa-
tion these villages were transformed into re-
publics, each with a government independent
of the others. The government of the limited
areas of land occupied by the four republics
w'as fairly successful, but the surrounding ter-
ritory became a practical no-man's-land, where
roamed the w^orst criminals of the country
and hundreds of detached bands of marauding
natives.

The Boers imposed a labour tax upon all
the natives who lived in the territory claimed
by the four republics, and for a period of ten
years the taxes were paid without a murmur.
About that time, however, the native tribes
had recovered from the great losses inflicted
vipon them by the emigrant farmers, and they
w^ere numerous enough to make an armed re-
sistance to the demands of the governments.
White women and children were massacred

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE 51

and property was destroyed at every oppor-
tunity.

For purposes of self-preservation the four
republics decided to unite the governments
under one head, and, after many disputes and
disorders, succeeded, in May, 1864, in form-
ing a single republic, with Marthinus Wessel
Pretorius as President, and Paul Kruger as
commandant-general of the army.

Ten months after the organization of the
republic the Barampula tribe and a number
of lawless Europeans rebelled against the au-
thority of the Government, and Kruger was
obliged to attempt their subjugation. Owing
to a lack of ammunition and funds, he failed
to end the rebellion, and as a result the
Boers were compelled to withdraw from a
large part of the territory they had occupied.
Up to this time the Boers had not been in-
terfered with by the Government of Cape
Colony, but another tribal rebellion that fol-
lowed the Barampula disturbance led to the
estabUshment of a court of arbitration, in
which the English governor of Natal figured
as umpire.

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

The result of the arbitration was that the
rebelhous tribes were awarded their independ-
ence, and that a large part of the Boers' ter-
ritory was taken from them. The emigrant
farmers who had settled the country main-
tained that President Pretorius was respon-
sible for the loss of territory and compelled
him to resign, after which the Rev. Thomas
Frangois Burgers, a shrewd but just clergy-
man-lawyer, was elected head of the republic.
Burgers believed that the republic was destined
to become a power of world-wide magnitude,
and instantly used his position to attain that
object. He went to Holland to secure money,
immigrants, and teachers for the state schools.
He secured half a million dollars with which
to build a railroad from his seat of govern-
ment to Delagoa Bay, and sent the railway
material to Lourenzo Marques, where the rust
is eating it to-day.

When Burgers returned to Pretoria, the
capital of the repubHc, he found that Chief
Secoceni, of the big Bapedi tribe, had defied
the power of his Government, and was mur-
dering the white immigrants in cold blood.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE 53

Burgers led his army in person to punish Seco-
ceni, and captured one of the native strong-
holds, but was so badly defeated afterward
that his soldiers became disheartened and de-
cided to return to their homes.

Heavy war taxes were levied, and when
the farmers were unable to pay them the Gov-
ernment was impotent to conduct its ordinary
affairs, much less quell the rebellion of the
natives. The Boers were divided among them-
selves on the subject of further procedure,
and a civil war was imminent. The British
Government, hearing of the condition of the
•republic's affairs, sent Sir Theophilus Shep-
stone, who had held a minor office at Natal,
to Pretoria with almost limitless powers. He
called upon President Burgers and stated to
him that his mission was to annex the country
to England, and gave as his reasons for such
a proceeding the excuse that the unsettled
condition of the native races demanded it.

Burgers pointed out to Shepstone that the
native races had not harmed the English colo-
nies, and that a new constitution, modelled

after that of America, with a standing police
5

54 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

force of two hundred mounted men, would
put an end to all the republic's troubles with
the natives. Shepstone, however, had the
moral support of a small party of Boers who
were dissatisfied with Burgers' administration,
and on April 12, 1877, declared the republic a
possession of the British Empire. Burgers
retired from the presidency under protest, and
Shepstone established a form of government
that for a short time proved acceptable to
many of the Boers. He renamed the country
Transvaal, and added a considerable military
force.

But the Boers were not accustomed to
foreign interference in their affairs, and twice
sent deputations to England to have the gov-
ernment of the country returned to their own
hands. Paul Kruger w^as a member of both
deputations, w^hich showed ample proof that
the annexation was made without the consent
of the majority of the Boers, but the English
Colonial Office refused to withdraw the Brit-
ish flag from the Transvaal.

Sir Owen Lanyon, a man of no tact and
an inordinate hater of the Boers, succeeded

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE 55

Shepstone as administrator of the Transvaal
in 1879, and in a short time aroused the anger
of his subjects to such an extent that an
armed resistance to the British Government
was decided upon. The open rebelHon was
delayed a short time by the election of Mr.
Gladstone as Prime Minister of England, and,
as he had publicly declared the righteousness
of the Boer cause, the people of the Transvaal
looked to him for their independence. When
Mr. Gladstone refused to interfere in the Trans-
vaal affairs the Boers held a meeting on the
present site of Krugersdorp, and elected Paul
Kruger, M. W. Pretorius, and Pieter J. Joubert
a triumvirate to conduct the government.

At this meeting each Boer, holding a stone
in his hand, took an oath before the Almighty
that he would shed the last drop of blood, if need
wxre, for his beloved country. The stones were
cast into one great heap, over which a tall monu-
ment was erected several years afterward. The
m.onument is annually made the rendezvous of
large numbers of Boers, who there renew the
solemn pledges to protect their country from
aggressors.

56 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

On the national holiday, Dingaan's Day,
December i6, 1880, the four-colour flag of
the republic was again raised at the temporary
capital at Heidelberg. The triumvirate sent a
manifesto to Sir Owen Lanyon explaining the
causes of discontent, and ending with this sig-
nificant sentence, which has ever remained a
motto of the individual Boers:

" We declare before God, who knows the
heart, and before the world, that the people
of the South African Republic have never
been subjects of Her Majesty, and never will be."

Lanyon cursed the men who brought the
manifesto to him, and straightway proceeded
to execute the authority he possessed. His
soldiers fired on a party of Boers proceeding
toward Potchefstrom, where they intended to
have the proclamation of independence printed.
The Boers defeated the soldiers the same day
the Transvaal flag was hoisted at Heidelberg,
and the war, which had been impending for
several months, was suddenly precipitated be-
fore either of the contestants was prepared.

Lanyon ordered the garrison of two hun-
dred and sixty-four men at Leydenburg, under

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE 57

Colonel Anstrutlier, to proceed to Pretoria, the
English capital. At Bronkhorst Spruit, Colo-
nel Anstruther's force was met by an equal
number of Boers, who immediately attacked
him. The engagement was brief but terrible,
and the English forces were compelled to sur-
render.

Lanyon then sent to Natal for assistance,
and Sir George Colley and a body of more
than a thousand trained soldiers and volun-
teers set out to assist the English in the Trans-
vaal, who for the most part were besieged
in the different towns. Commandant-General
Pieter Joubert, with a force of about fifteen
hundred Boers, went forward into Natal for
the purpose of meeting Colley, and occupied
a narrow passage in the mountains known as
Laing's Nek. Colley attempted to force the
pass on January 28, 1881, but the Boers in-
flicted such a heavy loss upon his forces that
he was compelled to retreat to Mount Pros-
pect and await the arrival of fresh troops
from England.

Eleven days after the battle of Laing's
Nek, General Colley and three hundred men,

58 COM PAUL'S PEOPLE

while patrolling the road near the Ingogo
River, were attacked by a body of Boers un-
der Commandant Nicholaas Smit. The Boers
killed and wounded two thirds of the English
force engaged, and compelled the others to re-
treat in disorder. Up to this time the Boers
had lost seventeen men killed and twenty-
eight wounded, while the British loss was two
hundred and fifty killed and three hundred
and fifty wounded.

During the night of February 26th Gen-
eral Colley made a move which was responsible
for one of the greatest displays of bravery the
world has ever seen. The fight at Majuba
Hill was won by the Boers against greater
odds than have been encountered by any vol-
unteer force in modern times, and is an ex-
ample of the courage, bravery, and absolute
confidence of the Boers when they believe they
are divinely guided.

Between the camps of General Colley and
Commandant-General Joubert lay Majuba Hill,
a plateau with precipitous sides and a per-
fectly level top about twenty-five hundred feet
above the camps. In point of resemblance

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE 59

the hill was a huge inverted tub whose sum-
mit could only be reached by a narrow path.
General Colley and six hundred men, almost
all of whom were trained soldiers fresh from
England, ascended the narrow path by moon-
light, and when the sun rose in the morning
were able to look from the summit of the
hill and see the Boer camp in the valley.

The plan of campaign was that the regi-
ments that had been left behind in camp
should attempt to force the pass through
Laing's Nek, and that the force on Majuba
Hill should make a new attack on the Boers
and in that manner crush the enemy in the
pass. So positive were the soldiers of the suc-
cess that awaited their plans that they looked
down from their lofty position into the ene-
my's lines and speculated on the number of
Boers that would live to tell the story of the
battle.

It was Sunday morning, and had the dis-
tance between the two armies been less, the
soldiers on the hill might have heard the
sound of many voices singing hymns of praise
and the prayers that were being offered by

6o OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

the Boers kneeling in the valley. The Eng-
lish held their enemies in the palm of their
hand, it seemed, and with a few heavy guns
they could have killed them by the score.
The sides of the hill were so steep that it did
not enter the minds of the English that the
Boers would attempt to ascend except by the
same path which they had traversed, and that
was impossible, because the path leading from
the base was occupied by the remaining Eng-
lish forces.

The idea that the Boers would climb from
terrace to terrace, from one bush to another,
and gain the summit in that manner, occurred
to no one. Before there was any stir in the
Boers' camp the English soldiers stood on the
edge of the summit and, shaking their fists in
exultation, challenged the enemy: '' Come up
here, you beggars! "

The Boers soon discovered the presence of
the English on the hill, and the camp pre-
sented such an animated scene that the Eng-
lish soldiers were led to imagine that con-
sternation had seized the Boers, and that they
were preparing for a retreat.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE 6l

A short time afterward, when the Boers
marched toward the base of the hill, the illu-
sion was dispelled; and still later, when one
hundred and fifty volunteers from the Boer
army commenced to ascend the sides of the
hill, the former spirit of braggadocio which
characterized the British soldier resolved itself
into a feeling of nervousness. During the
forenoon the British soldiers fired at such of
the cHmbing Boers as they could see, but the
Boers succeeded in dodging from one stone
to another, so that only one of their number
was killed in the ascent.

When the one hundred and fifty Boers
reached the summit of the hill, after an ardu-
ous climb of more than five hours, they lay
behind rocks at the edge and commenced a
hot fire at the English soldiers, who had re-
treated into the centre of the plateau, thirty
yards distant. The English soldiers had been
ordered to fix their bayonets and were pre-
pared to charge, but the order was never
given. A fresh party of Boers had reached
the summit and threatened to fiank the Eng-
lish, who, having lost many of their of^-

62 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

cers and scores of men, became wildly panic-
stricken.

Several minutes after General Colley was
killed, the British soldiers who had escaped
from the storm of bullets broke for the edge
of the summit and allowed themselves to drop
and roll down the sides of the hill. When
the list of casualties was completed it was
found that the Boers had killed ninety-two,
wounded one hundred and thirty-four, and
taken prisoners fifty-nine soldiers of the six
hundred who ascended the hill. The loss
on the Boers' side was one killed and five
wounded.

A short time after the fight at Majuba
Hill an armistice was arranged between Sir
Evelyn Wood, the successor of General Col-
ley, and the Triumvirate, and this led to
the partial restoration of the independence
of the South African Republic. By the terms
of peace concluded between the two Gov-
ernments, the suzerainty of Great Britain
was imposed as one of the conditions,
but this was afterward modified so that the
Transvaal became absolutely independent in

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BOER RACE

everything relating to its internal affairs.
Great Britain, however, retained the
right to veto treaties which the Transvaal
Government might make with foreign coun-
tries.

CHAPTER III

THE JOHANNESBURG GOLD FIELDS

South Africa has many stories concern-
ing the early history of the Witwatersrandt gold
district, so that it is well-nigh impossible to
discriminate between the fiction and the truth.
One of the most probable stories has it that
the former owner of the Randt region died re-
cently in an almshouse in Surrey, England.
He had a marvellous war record, having fought
with the British army in the Crimea, at Sebasto-
pol, in the Indian Mutiny, Zululand, and at Ma-
juba Hill. With his savings of four thousand
dollars he is said to have purchased fifteen thou-
sand acres of land in the southern part of the
Transvaal. He was obliged to forfeit his prop-
erty to the Boer Government in 1882, because he
had taken up arms against the Boers when they
were fighting for their independence.

The actual discovery of gold in the Trans-
64

THE JOHANNESBURG GOLD FIELDS 65

vaal territory is credited to a German named
Mauch, who travelled through that part of the
country early in the century. He returned to
Berlin with wonderful reports of the gold he
had found, and attempted to enlist capital to
work the mines. Whether his reports were not
credited, or whether the Germans feared the
natives, is not recorded, but Mauch is not heard
of again in connection with the later history
of the country. In 1854 a Dutchman named
Jan Marais, who had a short time before re-
turned from the Australian gold fields, pros-
pected in the Transvaal, and found many evi-
dences of gold. The Boers, fearing that their
land would be overrun with gold-seekers, paid
five hundred pounds to Marais, and sent him
home after extracting a promise that he would
not reveal his secret to any one.

It was not until 1884 that England heard
of the presence of gold in South Africa. A
man named Fred Stuben, who had spent sev-
eral years in the country, spread such marvel-
lous reports of the underground wealth of the
Transvaal that only a short time elapsed be-
fore hundreds of prospectors and miners left

66 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

England for South Africa. When the first
prospectors discovered auriferous veins of won-
derful quality on a farm called Sterkfontein,
the gold boom had its birth. It required the
lapse of only a short time for the news to reach
Europe, America, and Australia, and immedi-
ately thereafter that vast and widely scattered
army of men and women which constantly
awaits the announcement of new discoveries of
gold was set in motion toward the Randt.

The Indian, Russian, American, and Aus-
tralian gold fields were deserted, and the steam-
ships and sailing vessels to South Africa were
overladen with men and women of all degrees
and nationalities. The journey to the Randt was
expensive, dangerous, and comfortless, but be-
fore a year had passed almost twenty thousand
persons had crossed the deserts and the plains
and had settled on claims purchased from the
Boers. In December, 1885, the first stamp
mill was erected for the purpose of crushing
the gneiss rock in which the gold lay hidden.
This enterprise marks the real beginning of
the gold fields of the Randt, which now yield
one third of the world's total product of the

THE JOHANNESBURG GOLD FIELDS 6/

precious metal. The advent of thousands of
foreigners was a boon to the Boers, who owned
the large farms on which the auriferous veins
were located. Options on farms that were of
little value a short time before were sold at in-
credible figures, and the prices paid for small
claims w^ould have purchased farms of thou-
sands of acres two years before.

In July, 1886, the Government opened nine
farms to the miners, and all have since become
the best properties on the Randt. The names
by which the farms were known wxre retained
by the mines which were located upon them
afterward, and, as they give an idea of the no-
menclature of the country, are worth repeti-
tion : Langlaagte, Dreifontein, Rantjeslaagte,
Doornfontein, Vogelstruitsfontein, Paardeplaats,
Turfifontein, Elandsfontein, and Roodepoort.

The railroad from Cape Town extended only
as far north as the diamond mines at Kimber-
ley, and the remainder of the distance, about
five hundred miles, had to be traversed with
ox-teams or on foot; but the gold-seekers
yielded to no impediments, and marched in
bodies of hundreds to the new fields. The ma-

68 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

chinery necessary to operate the mines and ex-
tract the gold from the rocks, as well as every
ounce of food and every inch of lumber, was
dragged overland by ox-teams, and the vast
plains that had seen naught but the herds of
Boer farmers and the wandering tribes of na-
tives were quickly transformed into scenes of
unparalleled activity.

On the Randt the California scenes of '49
were being re-enacted. Tents and houses of
sheet iron were erected with picturesque lack
of beauty and uniformity, and during the latter
part of 1886 the community had reached such
proportions that the Government marked off
a township and called it Johannesburg. The
Government, which owned the greater part of
the land, held three sales of building lots, or
" stands," as they are called in the Transvaal,
and realized more than three hundred thousand
dollars from the sales. The prices of stands
measuring fifty by one hundred feet ranged
from one dollar to one thousand dollars. Mil-
lions were secured in England and Europe for
the development of the mines, and the individ-
ual miner sold his claims to companies with un-

THE JOHANNESBURG GOLD FIELDS 69

limited capital. The incredibly large dividends
that were realized by some of the investors led
to too heavy investments in the Stock Exchange
in 1889, and a panic resulted. Investors lost
thousands of pounds, and for several months
the future of the gold fields appeared to be
most gloomy. The opening of the railway to
Johannesburg and the re-establishment of stock
values caused a renewal of confidence, and the
growth and development of the Randt was im-
bued with renewed vigour.

Owing to the Boers' lack of training and
consequent inability to share in the develop-
ment of the gold fields, the new industry re-
mained almost entirely in the hands of the new-
comers, the Uitlanders, and two totally differ-
ent communities were created in the republic.
The Uitlanders, who, in 1890, numbered about
one hundred thousand, lived almost exclusive-
ly in Johannesburg and the suburbs along the
Randt. The Boers, having disposed of their
farms and lands on the Randt, were obliged to
occupy the other parts of the republic, w^here
they could follow their pastoral and agricultural
pursuits.

JO COM PAUL'S PEOPLE

The natural contempt which the EngHsh-
men, who composed the majority of the Uit-
lander population, always have for persons and
races not their intellectual or social equals,
soon created a gulf between the Boers and the
newcomers. This line of cleavage was ex-
tended when the newcomers attempted to ob-
tain a foothold in the politics of the country.
The Boers, who had been suddenly outnum-
bered three to one, naturally resented the in-
terference, especially as it came from persons
who had no desire to become permanent resi-
dents of the country, and who wanted a voice
in the conduct of the national afYairs only as a
means to attain their own ends, without car-
ing about the welfare of the entire republic.

The Uitlanders had many good and hon-
est men among them, but the majority consisted
of speculators, cutthroats, *' I. D. B.," * and
such others as were exiled from their native

* Illicit Diamond Buyers, Every diamond mined in the
country must be registered with the Government, and may
not be sold except by a licensed broker. Transgression of
this law is called illicit diamond buying or selling, and is
punishable with long imprisonment on the Breakwater at
Cape Town.

THE JOHANNESBURG GOLD FIELDS ;i

lands by reason of crimes they had committed.
Their cr>- was "Gold!" and honour and jus-
tice were cast to the winds. The Boer Govern-
ment was blamed for famine, drought, and the
locusts, and even.thing was done to embarrass
those who were tr>-ing to administer justice to
Boer and Uitlander alike.

One example is sufficient to show the con-
duct of the Uitlanders toward the Boers, but
thousands could be given. President Kruger
journeyed to Johannesburg in order to learn
from the newcomers what his government
might do to improve the industry-. A crowd
met 'Mr. Kruger. and, after rude remarks on
his personal appearance, sang ** God save the
Queen." Later the Transvaal flag was torn
down from a staff in front of the house in which
the President was conferring with leading resi-
dents of the city. The Transvaal Government,
on the other hand, sought by all means in its
power to secure the good-will of the newcomers,
and frequent conferences between leading men
of the Randt and the officials of the Govern-
ment vrere held with that object in view. The
Second Volksraad was created, so that the Uit-

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

landers might have a voice in the Government,
and many reforms, which at the time were
warmly approved by the Johannesburg Cham-
ber of Mines, representing the mining popula-
tion, were instituted, and would have been
completed, satisfactory to all, had the Uitland-
ers waited, instead of plotting for the over-
throw of the Government.

When the disturbing element of the Uit-
lander population found that their efforts to
govern the Randt according to their own de-
sires were fruitless, Cecil J. Rhodes, then Pre-
mier of Cape Colony and at the height of his
influence, began his campaign for the control
of the Boer territory. He brought to bear all
the power at his command to harass the Pre-
torian Government, and tried in a score of ways
to induce the colonial secretary to interfere
in behalf of the Uitlanders, even going to the
extent of offering to Secretary for the Colonies
Chamberlain the payment of an equal share in
the cost of a war with the Transvaal.

Whether Mr. Rhodes's real object in at-
tempting to secure possession of the Trans-
vaal was that he and other capitalists might

THE JOHANNESBURG GOLD FIELDS 73

consolidate the mines and limit the output, as
he had done at Kimberley, or whether his
earth-hunger impelled him, is known only to
himself. Whatever the reason, he planned like
a professional South American revolutionist,
and by his boldness caused the amateur revo-
lutionists of the Randt to gasp.

The opening prelude of the Jameson raid
was a mass meeting held in November, 1895,
by the Johannesburg Chamber of Mines, which
had always shown marked friendliness to the
Pretorian Government. The president of the
organization, Lionel Phillips, created a sensa-
tion by reading a mass of alleged grievances
against the Government, as formulated by an
organization called the " Transvaal National
Union," and threatening that, unless the Gov-
ernment gave immediate remedy, revolutionary
methods would be adopted in order to obtain
redress. The plot had begun its evolution,
and its success was to be attained in a certain
well-defined way.

The speech of Mr. Phillips was to serve as
Johannesburg's ultimatum to the Boers. If
the Government gave no heed, the revolution-

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

ary party was to seize Johannesburg by force
of arms, declare a provisional government of
the country, and march against Pretoria.
Once in possession of the seat of government,
it was planned to lay their grievances before
the world, and ask that the future government
of the country be placed in the hands of the
majority of the white population. It was be-
lieved that if the plans were thoroughly per-
fected the plot could be carried to a success-
ful conclusion without the firing of a single
shot. In order to be amply prepared in case
the Boers should make an unexpected resist-
ance to the revolutionists, it had been arranged
with Dr. Leander Starr Jameson, who was then
in charge of the troops of Mr. Rhodes's Brit-
ish South Africa Company, to ride across the
border to Johannesburg, a journey of several
days, and assist in the engagement. The revo-
lution was perfectly planned, and it would have
required only half an effort on the part of a
Ilaytien revolutionist to carry it out success-
fully; but Mr. Rhodes, the brains of the move-
ment, was in Cape Town, and unable to do any-
thing more practical than imagine that his

THE JOHANNESBURG GOLD FIELDS 75

plans were being followed. By common agree-
ment among the revolutionists, Dr. Jameson
and Mr. Rhodes, it was decided to have the
uprising in Johannesburg about the 28th of
December, and everything had been planned
accordingly. From Kimberley Mr. Rhodes's
De Beers Company had sent two thousand
rifles — the Boers say twenty thousand — one
hundred and twenty-five cases of ammunition,
and three Maxims in oil casks across the bor-
der into Johannesburg, where the Uitlanders
were secretly organizing and drilling military
companies. In the British territory Dr. Jame-
son and his six hundred troopers were polish-
ing their rifles and Maxims, and waiting for
the day when they should march toward Johan-
nesburg.

Under pretence that they were to be used
in connection with a new stage line to be
opened, " canteens," or feeding places, had
been established several miles apart on the road
over which the troopers were supposed to
enter Johannesburg, and all had been bounti-
fully stocked with provisions for soldier and
horse. The Government at Pretoria had been

^5 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

led to believe that Johannesburg was armed to
the teeth, and that nothing could prevent the
dissolution of the republic.

When the 28th day of December arrived,
the well-advertised revolution had not mate-
rialized, and nothing more martial was to be
seen than several regiments of civilians drill-
ing in the streets. Thousands of men, women,
and children, fearing that the Boers might at-
tack the city at any moment, besieged the rail-
way station, and fought like so many uncivi-
lized beings to board the trains leaving for
Natal and Cape Colony. Among those who
displayed the greatest eagerness to escape from
the city were many wealthy Englishmen, who
several days before had been the most rabid
sympathizers of the revolutionary movement.
The city was in the hands of the Uitlanders,
because the handful of Transvaal police, com-
monly called " Zarps," had been withdrawn by
the Boer authorities, who depended on the
power of the guns in the fort on the outskirts
of the town to quell any disturbance that
might be made. There was no actual revolu-
tion, because the Uitlanders were divided among

THE JOHANNESBURG GOLD FIELDS 77

themselves as to the course to be pursued. The
EngHshmen, as soon as the success of the
movement seemed so close at hand, aroused
the enmity of the other Uitlanders by asking
them to consent to the raising of the British
flag as soon as the Boer Republic had been ob-
literated. This campaign placed the revolution
in an entirely different light to those of the
Uitlanders who had no particular liking for
England, and the result was that the revolution-
ary party was divided into two camps. On the
side of the Englishmen were the Uitlanders
from British colonies — Scotchmen, Irishmen,
Welshmen, Canadians, Australians, and all the
Americans who were employed by British mines.
In the other camp were the Germans, French-
men, Scandinavians, Swedes, Norwegians,
Danes, and Finlanders.

The majority of the Americans felt that a
revolution was unjustifiable, although some of
the grievances complained of were undoubt-
edly just, and ranged themselves on the anti-
English side. Another reason for the Ameri-
cans' attitude at that time was President Cleve-
land's warlike message to England on the Vene-

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

zuelan boundary dispute. The real American
patriot is found ten thousand miles from home,
and those in America who were excited when
they heard of England's attempt to grasp a
swamp in far-away Venezuela can readily im-
agine the spirit of the Americans in the Trans-
vaal who saw England attempting to steal a
valuable country without the shadow of an
excuse.

The following day, the 29th of December,
Dr. Jameson and his troopers, believing that
the revolutionists at Johannesburg had seized
the city, as it had been planned they should do,
crossed the border into the Transvaal. Mes-
sages had been sent to Mr. Rhodes and others
of the leaders, stating the time of the departure
from British territory and the time set for their
arrival in Johannesburg. Several troopers were
sent ahead to cut the telegraph wires, so that
no news of the expedition should reach the
outside world; but the anticipated joy of reach-
ing Johannesburg and assisting in raising the
" Union Jack " intoxicated the men, and they
succeeded in cutting only the wire which led
to Cape Town. The wire to Pretoria remained

THE JOHANNESBURG GOLD FIELDS 79

untouched, and before the troopers had pro-
ceeded fifty miles into Transvaal territory the
Pretorian Government was aware of their ap-
proach, and made preparations to meet them.

The Uitlanders in Johannesburg had been
led to believe by their dilettante leaders that Dr.
Jameson's incursion had been postponed, and
they were ignorant of his whereabouts until the
following day, when a member of the Pretorian
Government kind-heartedly gave the informa-
tion to several of the Uitlander leaders, who
had journeyed to Pretoria with rifles in one
hand and demands in the other. When the
news of the invasion reached Johannesburg
the excitement became intensified. A reform
committee of about one hundred persons was
quickly formed, and into their hands was given
the conduct of the revolution. Speeches were
made from the balcony of the Stock Exchange,
until some practical speaker suggested that it
would be proper to unpack the rifles and am-
munition from the oil casks if the revolution
w^as to be undertaken.

The suggestion was acted upon, and late
that night five hundred of the rifles to be used

8o OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

in the overthrow of a repubHc were being car-
ried to and fro in the streets of Johannesburg
on the shoulders of men who were wilHng to
do the work for ten dollars a night. The fol-
lowing day, while Dr. Jameson and his troop-
ers were marching over the veldt toward Jo-
hannesburg, the leaders of the movement made
more speeches to the crowd at the Stock Ex-
change, and waited for news from Pretoria in-
stead of making news for Pretoria.

The first part of the plot — the capture of
Johannesburg — had been successful without the
discharge of a rifle, because the Boers had with-
drawn their police, and there remained no one
at which the opera-houffe revolutionists might
fire.

The next step was the capture of Pretoria,
and for this purpose a small expedition started
for the capital city; but returned hastily and
without their rifles and ammunition when they
saw a thousand Boers, each with the usual ac-
companiment of a rifle, attending the annual
" Nachtmaal," or communion, in the city.

The last day of the year saw the Uitland-
ers undecided as to what action to take. On

THE JOHANNESBURG GOLD FIELDS 8 1

the one hand was Dr. Jameson coming to their
relief, while on the other was the Pretorian
Government preparing to quell an insurrection
which had not even started. The Reform Com-
mittee, whose members a few weeks before had
made arrangements for Dr. Jameson's coming,
denied that they had any connection with the
invasion. Dr. Jameson having been repudi-
ated, the committee debated for many hours
on the subject of which flag should be hoisted
in the event that the revolution was successful,
and finally sent John Hays Hammond, an
American member of the committee, to secure
the four-colour of the Transvaal.

Then and there the most ludicrous incident
of the Uitlander rising took place. With up-
lifted hands the members of the committee,
who w^ere the leaders of the revolution, swore
allegiance to the red, white, green, and blue
flag of the Transvaal, which for days and
months before they had reviled and insulted.
After having vowed loyalty to the Transvaal
flag, the committee continued the preparations
for the defence of the city and the drilling of
the volunteers who were enrolled at a score of

758T

82 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

different shops in the city. A rumour that
Dr. Jameson had been attacked by the Boer
forces, but had repulsed them, gave additional
zest to the military preparations, and the ad-
visability of sending some of the mounted
troops to meet him was discussed but not
acted upon. The reported victory of Dr.
Jameson's troopers, coupled with a request
from the Pretorian Government for a confer-
ence to discuss methods of ending the trou-
bles, caused the Reform Committee to repent
their hasty action in swearing allegiance to
the Transvaal flag, and they were on the
point of breaking their obligation, and send-
ing aid to the invading troopers, when, dur-
ing the last hour of the year, they learned
that the secretary for the colonies, Mr. Cham-
berlain, had repudiated and recalled Dr. Jame-
son.

The first day of the new year the spirit of
the Uitlanders was dampened by the informa-
tion that the Boers were massing troops on
the outskirts of the town; and, fearing that the
town might be attacked at any moment, the
Reform Committee, which had been spending

THE JOHANNESBURG GOLD FIELDS 83

much energy in informing the Pretorian Gov-
ernment of the city's great military preparation,
telegraphed pathetic appeals for assistance to
the British High Commissioner at Cape Town.
Couriers arrived from the outskirts of the city
and reported that Dr. Jameson and his troop-
ers were within fifteen miles of Johannesburg,
and plans w^ere made to receive him. One
small regiment left the city to meet the troop-
ers and escort them into the city, while the
remainder of the revolutionary forces held ju-
bilation festivities in honour of Dr. Jameson's
anticipated arrival.

While Johannesburg, which had promised
to do the fighting, was in the midst of its festi-
val joys. Dr. Jameson and those of his six hun-
dred troopers who were not dead on the fields
of battle were waving a Hottentot woman's
white apron in token of their surrender to the
Boer forces at Doornkop, eighteen miles away.
The Johannesburg revolt, initiated by magnifi-
cent promises, ended with an inglorious display
of that quality which the British have been wont
to attribute to Boers — ''funk." The British
have their Balaclava and Sebastopol, but they

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

also have their Majuba Hill and the Johannes-
burg revolt.

The final scenes of the Jameson raid, which
might more fittingly be called *' the Johannes-
burg funk," were enacted in Pretoria, where
Dr. Jameson and the other prisoners were taken,
and in London, where the officers of the expe-
dition were tried and virtually acquitted. The
revolutionists in Johannesburg yielded all their
arms and ammunition to the Boer Govern-
ment, which in turn made every possible effort
to effect an amicable settlement of the griev-
ances of the Uitlanders. / But the raid left a
deeper impress upon Johannesburg and its in-
terests than any of its organizers or supporters
had ever dreamed of. Almost one fifth of the
inhabitants of the city left the country for more
peaceable localities in the three months follow-
ing the disturbance, and business became stag-
nant. Capitalists declined to invest more money
in the gold mines while the unsettled condi-
tion of the political affairs continued, and
scores of mines were compelled to abandon
operations. Stocks fell in value, and thousands
of pounds were lost by innocent shareholders

THE JOHANNESBURG GOLD FIELDS 85

in Europe, who were ignorant of the poHtical
affairs of the country. For two years the de-
pression continued, and so acute were its re-
sults that hundreds of respectable miners and
business men, who had been accustomed to
live in luxury, became bankrupt, s«d — wcrc-
obliged lu beg for their food. Those who
were able to do so sold their interests in the
city and left the country, while hundreds of
others would have been happy to leave had
they been able to secure passage to their native
countries.

During the last year the effects of the raid
have been disappearing and the commercial
interests of the Randt have been improving,
but the political atmosphere has been kept
vibrating at a continuous loss to the indus-
tries that are represented in the country. All
South Africa was similarly affected by the
depression, which naturally cut off the rev-
enue from the gold fields and that derived
from passengers and freight coming into the
country from foreign shores. To add to
the general dismay, the entire country was
scourged with the rinderpest, a disease which

86 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

killed more than a million and a half cattle;
clouds of locusts, that destroyed all vegeta-
tion and made life miserable; and a long
drought^

After the scourges had passed, and the po-
litical atmosphere had become somewhat clari-
fied, the industries of Johannesburg and the
Randt returned to their normal condition, and
the development of the natural resources of
the territory was resumed. Many of those per-
sons who deserted the city during its period
of depression returned with renewed ener-
gy, and those who had successfully combated
the storm joined with the newcomers in wel-
coming the return of prosperous times.
Confidence was restored among the Euro-
pean capitalists, and money was again freely
invested and trade relations firmly re-estab-
lished.

Johannesburg after the Jameson raid was
a distressing scene; the Johannesburg of to-
day is a wondrous testimonial to the energy
and progress of mankind.

If there were no other remarkable features
to mark the last decade of the twentieth cen-

THE JOHANNESBURG GOLD FIELDS 8/

tury, the marvellous city which has been built
near the heart of the Dark Continent would
alone be a fitting monument to the enterprise
and achievements of the white race during that
period of time.

CHAPTER IV

THE BOER OF TO-DAY

The wholesale slander and misrepresenta-
tion with which the Boers of South Africa
have been pursued can not be outlived by them
in a hundred years. It originated when the
British forces took possession of the Cape of
Good Hope, and it has continued with un-
abated vigour ever since. Recently the chief
writers of fiction have been prominent Eng-
lishmen, who, on hunting expeditions or rapid
tours through the country, saw the object of
their venom from car windows or in the less
favourable environments of a trackless veldt.

In earlier days the outside world gleaned
its knowledge of the Boers from certain British
statesmen, who, by grace of Downing Street,
controlled the country's colonial policy, and
consequently felt obliged to conjure up weird
descriptions of their far-distant subjects in order

THE BOER OF TO-DAY

to make the application of certain harsh poli-
cies appear more applicable and necessary,
^lissionaries to South Africa, traders, and, not
least of all, speculators, all found it convenient
to traduce the Boers to the people in England,
and the object in almost every case was the
attainment of some personal end. Had there
been any variety in the complaints, there might
have been reason to suppose they were justi-
fiable, but the similarity of the reports led to
the conclusion that the British in South Africa
were conducting the campaign of misrepresen-
tation for the single purpose of arousing the
enmity of the home people against the Boers.
The unbiased reports were generally of such
a nature that they were drowned by the roar
of the malicious ones, and, instead of creating
a better popular opinion of the race, only as-
sisted in stirring the opposition to greater
flights of fancy.

American interests in South Africa having
been so infinitesimal until the last decade, our
own knowledge of the country and its people
naturally was of the same proportions. When
Americans learned anything concerning South

go OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

Africa or the Boers it came by way of Lon-
don, which had vaster interests in the country,
and should have been able to give exact in-
formation. But, like other colonial informa-
tion, it was discoloured with London additions,
and the result was that American views of the
Boers tallied with those of the Englishman.

Among the more prominent Englishmen
who have recently studied the Boers from a
car window, and have given the world the bene-
fit of their opinions, is a man who has declared
that the Boer blocked the way in South Africa,
and must go. Among other declarations with
w^hich this usually well-informed wTiter has
taken up the cudgel in behalf of his friend Mr.
Rhodes, he has called the Boers " utterly de-
testable," '' gi-iilty of indecencies and family
immorality," and even so '' benighted and un-
civilized " as to preclude the possibility of writ-
ing about them. All this he is reported to have
said about a race that has been lauded beyond
measure by the editors of every country in
the world except those under the English flag.
The real cause of it all is found in the Boers'
disposition to carry their own burdens, and

THE BOER OF TO-DAY 91

their disinclination to allow England to be
their keeper. Their opinions of justice and
right were formed years ago in Cape Colony,
and so long as their fighting ability has
not been proved in a negative manner, so
long will the Boers be reviled by the covet-
ous Englishmen of South Africa and their
friends.

The Boer of to-day is a man who loves
solitude above all things. He and his ances-
tors have enjoyed that chief product of South
Africa for so many generations that it is his
greatest delight to be alone. The nomadic
spirit of the early settler courses in his veins,
and will not be eradicated though cities be
built up all around him and railroads hem him
in on all sides.

He loves to be out on the veldt, where noth-
ing but the tall grass obstructs his view of the
horizon, and his happiness is complete when,
gun in hand, he can stalk the buck or raise the
covey on soil never upturned by the share of
a plough. The real Boer is a real son of the
soil. It is his natural environment, and he
chafes when he is compelled to go where there

Q2 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

are more than a dozen dwellings in the same
square mile of area.

The pastoral life he and his ancestors have
been leading has endowed him with a happy-
go-lucky disposition. Some call him lazy and
sluggish because he has plenty of time at his
disposal and '' counts ten " before acting.
Others might call that disposition a realization
of his necessities, and his chosen method of
providing for them.

The watching of herds of cattle and flocks
of sheep has since biblical times been consid-
ered an easier business than the digging of
minerals or the manufacture of iron, and the
Boer has realized that many years ago. He
has also realized the utter uselessness of dig-
ging for minerals and the manufacture of iron
when the products of either were valueless at
a distance of a thousand miles from the
nearest market. Taking these facts in con-
sideration, the Boer has done wdiat other less
nomadic people have done. He has im-
proved the opportunities which lay before
him, and has allowed the others to pass
untouched.

THE BOER OF TO-DAY 93

The Boers are not an agricultural people,
because the nature of the country affords no
encouragement for the following of that pur-
suit. The great heat of the summer removes
rivers in a week and leaves rivulets hardly big
enough to quench the thirst of the cattle. Irri-
gation is out of the question, as the great rivers
are too far distant and the country too level
to warrant the building of artificial waterways.
Taking all things into consideration, there is
nothing for a Boer to do but raise cattle and
sheep, and he may regard himself particularly
fortunate at the end of each year if drought
and disease have not carried away one half of
this wealth.

The Boer's habits and mode of life are simi-
lar to those of the American ranchman, and
in reality there is not much difference between
the two except that the latter is not so far re-
moved from civilization. The Boer likes to
be out of the sight of the smoke of his neigh-
bour's house, and to live fifteen or twenty miles
from another dwelling is a matter of satisfac-
tion rather than regret to him. The patriarchal
custom of the people provides against the lack

Q4 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

of companionship which naturally would follow
this custom.

When a Boer's children marry they settle
within a short distance of the original family
homestead; generally several hundred yards dis-
tant. In this way, in a few years, a small vil-
lage is formed on the family estates, which may
consist of from five hundred to ten thousand
acres of uninclosed grazing ground. Every
son when he marries is entitled to a share of
the estate, wdiich he is supposed to use for the
support of himself and his family, and in that
way the various estates grow smaller each
generation. When an estate grows too small
to support the owner, he " treks " to another
part of the country, and receives from the state
such an amount of territory as he may re-
quire.

Boer houses, as a rule, are situated a long
distance away from the tracks of the transport
wagons, in order that passing infected animals
may not introduce disease into the flocks and
herds of the farmer. Strangers are seldom seen
as a result of this isolation, and news from the
outer world does not reach the Boers unless

THE BOER OF TO-DAY

they travel to the towns to make the annual
purchases of necessaries.

Their chief recreation is the shooting of
game, which abounds in almost all parts of
the country. Besides being their recreation, it
is also their duty, for it is much cheaper to kill
a buck and use it to supply the family larder
than to kill an ox or a sheep for the same pur-
pose. It is seldom that a Boer misses his
aim, be the target a deer or an Englishman,
and he has ample time to become proficient
in the use of the rifle. His gun is his constant
companion on the veldt and at his home, and
the long alliance has resulted in earning for
him the distinction of being the best marks-
man and the best irregular soldier in the world.
The Boer is not a sportsman in the American
sense of the word. He is a hunter, pure and
simple, and finds no delight in following the
Englishman's example of spending many weeks
in the Zambezi forests or the dangerous Kala-
hari Desert, and returning with a giraffe tail
and a few horns and feathers as trophies of the
chase. He hunts because he needs meat for
his family and leather for sjam-bok whips with

^5 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE .-

which to drive his cattle,' and not because it
gives him personal gratification to be able to
demonstrate his supreme skill in the tracking
of game.

The dress of the Boer is of the roughest
description and material, and suited to his oc-
cupation. Corduroy and flannel for the body,
a wide-brimmed felt hat for the head, and soft
leather-soled boots fitted for walking on the
grass, complete the regulation Boer costume,
which is picturesque as well as serviceable.
The clothing, which is generally made by the
Boer's vrouw, or wife, makes no pretension of
fit or style, and is quite satisfactory to the wear-
er if it clings to the body. In most instances
it is built on plans made and approved by the
Voortrekkers of 1835, and quite satisfactory to
the present Boers, their sons, and grandsons.

Physically, the Boers are the equals, if not
the superiors, of their old-time enemy, the
Zulus. It would be dif^cult to find anywhere
an entire race of such physical giants as the
Boers of the Transvaal and the Orange Free
State. The roving existence, the life in the
open air, and the freedom from disturbing

THE BOER OF TO-DAY

cares have combined to make of the Boers a
race that is ahiiost physically perfect. If an
average height of all the full-grown males in
the country were taken, it would be found to
be not less than six feet two inches, and prob-
ably more. Their physique, notwithstanding
their comparatively idle mode of living, is mag-
nificently developed.

The action of the almost abnormally devel-
oped muscles of the legs and arms, discernible
through their closely fitting garments, gives
an idea of the remarkable powers of endurance
w^hich the Boers have displayed on many oc-
casions when engaged in native and other
campaigns. They can withstand almost any
amount of physical pain and discomfort, and
can live for a remarkably long time on the
smallest quantity of food. It is a matter of
common knowledge that a Boer can subsist
on a five-pound slice of " biltong " — beef that
has been dried in the sun until it is almost as
hard as stone — for from ten to fifteen days with-
out suffering any pangs of hunger. In times
of w^ar, " biltong " is the principal item in the
army rations, and in peace, when he is follow-

q8 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

ing his flocks, it also is the Boer shepherd's
chief article of diet.

The religion of the Boers is one of their
greatest characteristics, and one that can hardly
be understood when it is taken into considera-
tion that they have been separated for almost
two hundred years from the refining influences
of a higher civilization. The simple faith in a
Supreme Being, which the original emigrants
from Europe carried to South Africa, has been
handed down from one generation to another,
and in two centuries of fighting, trekking, and
ranching has lost none of its pristine depth
and fervour.

With the Boer his religion is his first and
uppermost thought. The Old Testament is
the pattern which he strives to follow. The
father of the family reads from its pages every
day, and from it he formulates his ideas of right
and wrong as they are to be applied to the
work of the day. Whether he wishes to ex-
change cattle with his neighbour or give his
daughter in marriage to a neighbour's son, he
consults the Testament, and finds therein the
advice that is applicable to the situation. He

THE BOER OF TO-DAY pg

reads nothing but the Bible, and consequently
his belief in its teachings is indestructible and
supreme.

His religious temperament is portrayed in
almost every sentence he utters, and his repeti-
tion of biblical parables and sayings is a cus-
tom which so impresses itself upon the mind
of the stranger that it is but natural that those
who are unacquainted with the Boer should
declare it a sure sign of his hypocrisy. He does
not quote Scripture merely to impress upon
the mind of his hearer the fact that he is a de-
vout Christian, but does it for the same reasons
that a sailor speaks the language of the sea-
farer.

The Boer is a low churchman among low
churchmen. He abhors anything that has the
slightest tendency toward show or outward
signs of display in religious Avorship. He is
simple in his other habits, and in his religious
observances he is almost primitively simple.
To him the wearing of gorgeous raiment, spe-
cial attitudes, musical accompaniment to hymns,
and special demonstrations are the rankest sacri-
lege. Of the nine legal holidays in the Trans-

lOO OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

vaal, five — Good Friday, Easter Monday, As-
cension Day, Whit Monday, and Christmas —
are Church festival days, and are strictly ob-
served by every Boer in the country.

The Dutch Reformed Church has been the
state Church since 1835, when the Boers com-
menced emigrating from Cape Colony. The
" trekkers " had no regularly ordained minis-
ters, but depended upon the elders for their
religious training, as well as for leadership in
all temporal affairs. One of the first clergy-
men to preach to the Boers was an American,
the Rev. Daniel Lindley, who was one of the
earliest missionaries ever sent to South Africa.
The state controls the Church, and, conversely,
the Church controls the state, for it is neces-
sary for a man to become a factor in religious
affairs before he can become of any political
importance. As a result of this custom, the
politicians are necessarily the most active
church members.

The Hervormde Dopper branch of the
Dutch Reformed Church is the result of a
disagreement in 1883 with the Gereformeerde
branch over the singing of hymns during a

THE BOER OF TO-DAY lol

religious service. The Doppers, led by Paul
Kruger, peaceably withdrew, and started a
congregation of their own w^hen the more pro-
gressive faction insisted on singing hymns,
which the Doppers declared was extremely
worldly.

Since then the two chief political parties
are practically based on the differences in re-
ligion. The Progressive party is composed of
those who sing hymns, and the members of
the Conservative party are those who are more
Calvinistic in their tendencies. As the Con-
servatives have been in power for the last
decade, it follows that the majority of the Boers
are opposed to the singing of hymns in church.
The greatest festival in the Boer calendar is
that of Nachtmaal, or Communion, which is
generally held in Pretoria the latter part of
the year.

The majority of the Boers living in remote
parts of the country, where established con-
gregations or churches are an impossibility, it
behooves every Boer to journey to the capital
once a year to partake of communion. Pre-
toria then becomes the Mecca of all Boers, and

I02 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

the pretty little town is filled to overflowing
with pilgrims and their " trekking " wagons
and cattle. Those who live in remote parts of
the country are obliged to start several weeks
before the Nachtmaal in order to be there at
the appointed time, and the whole journey to
and fro in many instances requires six weeks'
time. \Mien they reach Pretoria they bivouac
in the open square surrounding the old brick
church in the centre of the town, and spend
almost all their time in the church. It is one
of the grandest scenes in South Africa to ob-
serve the pilgrims camping in the open square
under the shade of the patriarchal church,
which to them is the most sacred edifice in
the world.

The home life of the Boers is as distinctive
a feature of these rough, simple peoples as is
their deep religious enthusiasm. If there is
anything that his falsifiers have attacked, it is
the Boer's home life, and those who have had
the opportunity to study it will vouch that
none more admirable exists anywhere. The
Boer heart is filled with an intense feeling of
family affection. He loves his wife and chil-

THE BOER OF TO-DAY

103

dren above all things, and he is never too busy
to eulogize them. He will allow his flocks
to wander a mile away while he relates a
trifling incident of family life, and he would
rather miss an hour's sleep than not take ad-
vantage of an opportunity to talk on domestic
topics.

He does not gossip, because he sees his
neighbours too rarely for that, but he will lay
before you the detailed history and distinctive
features of every one of his ancestors, relations,
and descendants. He is hospitable to a de-
gree that is astonishing, and he will give to a
stranger the best room in the house, the use
of his best horse, and his finest food. Natu-
rally he will not give an effusive welcome to
an Englishman, because he is the natural ene-
my of the Boer, but to* strangers of other na-
tionalities he opens his heart and house.

The programme of the Boer's day is hardly
ever marred by any changes. He rises with
the sun, and works among the sheep and cat-
tle until breakfast. There at the table he meets
his family and conducts the family worship.
If the parents of the married couple are pres-

I04

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

ent, they receive the best seats at the table,
and are treated with great reverence.

After breakfast he makes his plans for the
day's work, which may consist of a forward
*' trek " or a hunting trip. He attends to the
little plot of cultivated ground, which pro-
vides all the vegetables and grain for the table,
and spends the remainder of the day in attend-
ing to the cattle and sheep. Toward night he
gathers his family around him, and reads to
them selected chapters from the Bible. From
the same book he teaches his children to read
until twilight is ended, whereupon the Boer's
day is ended, and he seeks his bed.

During the dry season the programme
varies only as far as his place of abode is con-
cerned. With the arrival of that season the
Boer closes his house and becomes a wanderer
in pursuit of water. The sheep and cattle are
driven to the rivers, and the family follows in
big transport wagons, not unlike the American
prairie-schooner, propelled by eight spans of
oxen. The family moves from place to place
as the necessity for new pasturage arises. With
the approach of the wet season the nomads

THE BOER OF TO-DAY

105

prepare for the return to the deserted home-
stead, and, as soon as the first rain has fallen
and the grass has changed the colour of the
landscape, the Boer and his vast herds are
homeward bound.

The Boer homestead is as unpretentious as
its owner. Generally it is a low, one-story
stone structure, with a steep tile roof and a
small annex in the rear, which is used as a
kitchen. The door is on a level with the
ground, and four windows afford all the light
that is required in the four square rooms in the
interior. A dining room and three bedrooms
suffice for a family, however large. The floors
are of hardened clay, liberally coated with ma-
nure, which is designed to ward off the pes-
tiferous insects that swarm over the plains.

The house is usually situated in a valley
and close to a stream, and, in rare instances, is
sheltered by a few trees that have been brought
from the coast country. Native trees are such
a rarity that the traveller may go five hundred
miles without seeing a single specimen. The
Boer vrouw feels no need of firewood, how-
ever, for her ancestors taught her to cook her

Io6 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

meals over a fire of the dry product of the cattle-
decked plains.

Personal uncleanliness is one of the great
failings that has been attributed to the Boer,
but when it is taken into consideration that
water is a priceless possession on the plains of
South Africa, no further explanation is needed.
The canard that the Boers go to bed without
undressing is as absurd as the one of like ori-
gin that an entire family sleeps in one bed.
Yet these fictions constantly appear, and fre-
quently over the names of persons who have
penetrated into South Africa no farther than
Cape Town.

The Boer here depicted is the representa-
tive Boer — the one who shoulders his rifle and
fights for his country; the one who watches
his cattle on the plains and pays his taxes; the
one who tries to improve his condition, and
takes advantage of every opportunity for ad-
vancement that is offered. There is a worth-
less Boer, as there is a worthless Englishman,
a worthless German, and a worthless Ameri^
can, but he is so far in the minority that he
need not be analyzed.

THE BOER OF TO-DAY 107

There is, however, a Boer who lives in the
towns and cities, and he compares favourably
with other men of South African birth. He
has had the advantage of better schools, and
can speak one or more languages besides his
own. He is not so nomadic in his tendencies
as his rural countryman, and he has absorbed
more of the modernisms. He can conduct a
philosophic argument, and his wiie and daugh-
ters can play the piano. If he is wealthy, his
son is a student at a European university and
his daughter flirting on the beach at Durban
or attending a ladies' seminary at Bloemfontein
or Grahamstown.

He is as progressive as any white man cares
to be under that generous South African sun,
and when it comes to driving a bargain he is
a match for any of the money sharks of Johan-
nesburg. For the youthful Boer who reaches
the city directly from the country, without any
trade or profession, the prospects are gloomy.
He is at a great disadvantage when put into
competition with almost any class of residents.
The occupations to which he can turn are few,
and these have been still further restricted in

I08 COM PAUL'S PEOPLE

late years by the destruction of cattle by the
rinderpest and the substitution of railways for
road transport. His lack of education unfits
him for most of the openings provided in such
a city as Johannesburg, even when business is
at its highest tide, and a small increase in the
tension of business brings him to absolute
want.

The Boer of to-day is a creature of circum-
stance. He is outstripped because he has had
no opportunities for development. Driven from
Cape Colony, where he was rapidly develop-
ing a national character, he was compelled to
wander into lands that offered no opportunities
of any description. He has been cut off for
almost a hundred years from an older and
more energetic civilization, and even from his
neighbours; it is no wonder that he is a cen-
tury behind the van. No other civilized race
on earth has been handicapped in such a man-
ner, and if there had been one it is a matter
for conjecture whether it would have held its
own, as the Boer has done, or whether it would
have fallen to the level of the savage.

Had the Boer Voortrekkers been fortunate

THE BOER OF TO-DAY 109

enough to settle in a fertile country bordering
on the sea, where they might have had com-
munication with the outer world, their descend-
ants would undoubtedly to-day be growing
cane and wheat instead of herding cattle and
driving transport wagons. Their love of free-
dom could not have been greater under those
circumstances, but they might have averted
the conditions which now threaten to erase
their nation from the face of the earth.

CHAPTER V

PRESIDENT KRUGER

Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, or
Uncle Paul, the Lion of Rustenberg, is a man
of most remarkable characteristics. A man of
absolutely no education, as we understand the
word, he has, during the long years of a notable
career, so applied his inherent abilities, his nat-
ural astuteness, the cunning acquired by con-
stant battling with the wiles of native enemies,
as to be able to acquit himself of his high of-
fice in a manner to be envied by many who
have enjoyed a hundred times as many advan-
tages. Although he is almost seventy-five
years old, the President's mind has not become
dimmed, but, if anything, has grown keener
of perception and wider in its scope during
the last ten years.

Since his youth Mr. Kruger has been a leader
among his countrymen. When a boy he had

PRESIDENT KRUGER m

pronounced ability as a deer-stalker, and it is
related of him that before he had reached man-
hood he had killed more lions than any other
man in the colony. He was absolutely fearless,
and could endure any amount of bodily pain
and discomfort. As an example of this, I re-
peat his explanation of the accident that caused
him to lose his left thumb:

" We were shooting rhinoceros one day,"
said he, " when an old gun exploded in my
hands. It cut my thumb so badly that I saw
it could not be saved. I borrowed a dull
knife and cut the thumb off, because it pre-
vented me from holding the gun properly.'^

President Kruger's personality is most
unique. He impresses one as being a king in
the garb of a farmer, a genius in a dunce's cap.
At first sight he would be mistaken for an awk-
w^ard countryman, with " store clothes " and a
silk hat intended for some one else. His frock
coat is far too small to reach around his cor-
pulent body, and his trousers seem to have a
natural antipathy for his shoes.

He wears no cuffs, and the presence of a
collar and tie may be determined only by

112 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

drawing aside the natural curtain formed by
his whiskers. He is uncouth in his manner,
but he has great natural attractiveness gained
by a long life among hunters in the wilds. He
is suspicious of everything and every one, but
that quality is easily accounted for by his early
dealings with negro chiefs, whose treacherous
habits caused him to become wary in all his
transactions with them. In later days this has
stood him in good stead. He is slow to make
friends, but once he trusts a person voluminous
proof is necessary before he alters his opin-
ion of the man. He never forgets a good
deed, and never pardons the man who does a
bad one.

President Kruger is short in stature, meas-
uring less than five feet seven inches. His
head and body are large and fat, but his legs
are thin and short. His head is just a trifle
longer than broad, and almost fits the English
definition of " square head." The small eyes
are surmounted by bushy, white eyebrows,
which extend half an inch beyond his forehead.

When he is not sitting for a photograph
his hair is not so neatly arranged as it appears

PRESIDENT KRUGER 113

in the well-known pictures, but hangs loosely
down over his wide forehead, except when, with
a hasty swish of the hand, he brushes it aside.
The hair is nearly white, and hangs over the
sides of his head in long tresses, which cover
both his ears.

When he smiles the big fat circles above
his cheeks are pushed upward, and shut his
small gray eyes from view. But when pleased
the President generally laughs hilariously, and
then his eyes remain closed for the greater
part of a minute. Mr. Kruger's nose and mouth
are the chief features of his face. Both are
more extensive than his large face demands,
but they are such marvels in their own peculiar
way as to be distinguishing marks. The bridge
of the nose grows wide as it goes outward from
the point between the eyes, and before it reaches
the tip it has a gentle upheaval. Then it spreads
out on either side, and covers fully two inches
of area above his upper lip. It is not attract-
ive, but in that it follows the general condition
of his facial landscape.

The mouth is wide and ungainly. The con-
stant use of a heavy pipe has caused a deep de-

114

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

pression on the left side of his lower lip, and
this gives the whole mouth the appearance of
being unbalanced. His chin is large and promi-
nent, and his ears correspond relatively in size
and symmetry with his face. When in repose
his features are not pleasant to look upon, but
when lighted up by a smile they become rather
attractive, and generally cause his laughter to
become contagious among his hearers.

The thin line of beard which runs from ear
to ear combines with the hair on his head
in forming what is not unlike a white halo
around the President's face. The lines in the
man's face are deep, irregular, and very numer-
ous. They indicate more than anything the
ceaseless worry and troubles to which the Presi-
dent has been subjected while directing the af-
fairs of his countrymen of the Transvaal.

The physical description of the Kruger of
to-day is one that suggests sluggishness and
idleness rather than alertness and ceaseless ac-
tivity. The appearance of the man certainly
does not conform with his record of marvel-
lous performances, unflagging endeavour, and
superior mental attainments. The well-pre-

PRESIDENT KRUGER

115

served Kruger at seventy-five years bears no
deep marks of the busy and eventful life he
has led, nor are there any visible indications
that the end of his usefulness to his people is
close at hand.

The fragmentary history of Mr. Kruger's
life, as related by himself, gives an insight into
his remarkably varied experiences. He mod-
estly refrains from allowing any one, even those
who know him best, to obtain from him enough
of his own history to incorporate in a biogra-
phy, and it is likely, unless in his later years
he changes his mind, that no detailed narrative
can ever be written.

Although the majority of his countrymen
are of Dutch or Huguenot ancestry, Mr. Kruger
is of German descent. Jacob Kruger, his pa-
ternal ancestor, emigrated to South Africa, in
1713, from the Potsdam district of Germany,
and married a young woman who was born in
Cape Colony. He was born October 10, 1825,
in Colesburg, Cape Colony, whither his parents
had " trekked " from Cape Town a quarter of
a century before. The first Krugers whose
names appear in the Dutch East India Com-

Il6 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

pany's records arrived in the settlement at the
Cape in 1712, and thereafter became leaders
in enterprise among the settlers. While Mr.
Kruger was yet in his infancy the Boers' trou-
bles with the Colonial Government began, and
when he was ten years old he migrated with
the '' Voortrekkers " to the unknown regions
in the interior.

The life in the open and the tropical tem-
perature served to develop him early, and at
the age of fifteen we find him shooting his first
lion, as well as serving in the capacity of '' field
cornet," a minor official position. As such he
took part in the wars with the Zulu Dingaan
and the Matabele Moselekatse, and served with
distinction. In 1842 he was confirmed by the
Rev. Daniel Lindley, the American missionary,
and had implanted more firmly in his heart
the religious feeling which in later years has
proved to be his greatest solace in his troubles.

Next we hear of him standing by the side
of his father while he fires the first shot at the
English soldiers in the battle of Boomplaats,
in 1848. After doing valiant service in that
battle, he became one of the leaders of the

PRESIDENT KRUGER ny

" trekkers " who settled in the Transvaal
country.

In 1856 young Kruger, then barely thirty-
one years old, is elected sub-commandant of the
Transvaal army, a most responsible position in
a country where natives are as treacherous as
they are innumerable. Five years later he be-
comes commandant of the army, and leads a
force of one hundred and fifty men against
Chief Sechele. He retains that office until
1877, when England annexes the country to
her domain. During the war for independence
which then ensues, Mr. Kruger is Vice-Presi-
dent of the Triumvirate, which executes the
government of the country, and after peace is
declared in 1883 he is elected to the presidency.
He is thrice re-elected, and is now serving his
fourth term as head of the South African Re-
public.

Into this skeleton of his life's story might
be fitted innumerable incidents and anecdotes
that are related by his countrymen, who treas-
ure them greatly and repeat them at every op-
portunity. Many of these are probably imagi-
nary, while others have undoubtedly been retold

Il8 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

SO frequently that they have lost all resemblance
of the original form. The majority of the
stories refer to Mr. Kruger's prowess in deal-
ing with lions, tigers, and elephants, and many
of these are probably true. Several of those
that he himself verifies are given merely to illus-
trate the experiences that the Boers encoun-
tered in the early days of the '' trekkers."

When fifteen years old Kruger and one of
his sisters, being left alone on the veldt by
their parents, were approached by a South
African panther, small but of ample enough pro-
portions to frighten the two children. Kruger,
with only a knife for a weapon, boldly attacked
the panther, and after a severe struggle, dur-
ing which he was sorely injured, slew the
beast. Another story, illustrative of his phys-
ical strength, is that he contested with a native
in a foot-race of twelve hours' duration, and
won by such a large margin that he was en-
abled to stalk a buck on the veldt and carry it
to his father's house before his competitor
reached the goal.

During the " trekking " trip from Cape Col-
ony to the final settlement in the Transvaal the

PRESIDENT KRUGER ng

Boer settlers shot no less than six thousand
lions, and of that number Kruger is credited
with shooting more than two hundred and-
fifty.

His personal bravery was never shown to
better advantage than in 1857, when he was sub-
commandant of the Transvaal army. He had
ordered several of his burghers to go into the
Orange Free State, with which country there
was a serious misunderstanding, and there they
were arrested. As soon as Mr. Kruger heard
of the men's arrest he hastened into the camp
of the Free State forces and asked for the re-
lease of the prisoners on the ground that they
were innocent, and that if any one were guilty
he was that man, because he had ordered them
to enter the country. The commandant of the
Free State forces was so greatly amazed by
Mr. Kruger's bravery that he allowed all the
Boers to return to their own camp.

Mr. Kruger's remarkable vitality and ca-
pacity for hard mental labour are the results
of the great care which he bestows upon him-
self and the regular habits which he has fol-
lowed for almost twenty years. He rises at

120 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

half past five o'clock every morning, and fol-
lows a daily programme, from which he never
deviates unless he is absent from home. After
he leaves his bedroom he proceeds to his library
and drinks several cups of intensely black cof-
fee, and smokes several pipefuls of strong Boer
tobacco. Then he spends the greater part of
an hour in family devotions and the perusal of
the Bible. After breakfast, at half past seven
o'clock, he receives the members of the Volks-
raad, and then transacts the heaviest business
of the day. After all the Volksraad members
have departed, he steps out on the piazza of
his little whitewashed cottage and joins the
burghers, or citizens, who every morning con-
gregate there and discuss state affairs while
they sip the coffee and smoke the tobacco
which the President furnishes to all visitors.

At ten o'clock the state carriage and its es-
cort of eight gaudily apparelled troopers await
him at the gate, and he is conveyed to the
Government House, several blocks distant. As
soon as he arrives there he is to be found either
in one legislative chamber or the other, direct-
ing the affairs of the two bodies, making ad-

PRESIDENT KRUGER 121

dresses or quietly watching the progress of
legislative matters. At noon he returns to his
home for luncheon, but is back at his duties
in the Government House at two o'clock, and
remains there three hours in the afternoon.
Thereafter he receives burghers at his home
until seven o'clock, and retires every evening
at precisely eight o'clock.

The power which Mr. Kruger has over the
majority of his countrymen is due in no small
measure to his fondness for conversing with
them and his treatment of them when they
visit his cottage. As soon as the sun has risen,
a small stream of Boers wends its way toward
the President's cottage and awaits his appear-
ance on the piazza. When Mr. Kruger comes
among them he loses his identity as President,
and merges his personality into that of an ordi-
nary burgher. This custom has endeared him
in the affections of his people, and, as a result,
w^henever he makes a stand on any question
it may be taken for granted that he has thor-
oughly discussed the subject beforehand with
his burghers, and that he can depend upon the
majority of them for their support.

122 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

Mr. Kruger is a speech-maker of no mean
ability. His addresses in the Volksraad are
filled with good reasoning, homely similes,
biblical quotations, and convincing argument.
He speaks without preparation, indulges in no
flights of oratory, but uses the simple, plain
language that is easily understood by the
burgher as well as the statesman. All his
speeches are delivered in the Boer ** taal,"
a dialect which bears the same relation to the
Dutch language as '' low " German does to
" high " German. Generally the dialect is used
by the Boers in speaking only, the pure Dutch
being used in correspondence and official state
papers.

The President may be able to speak the
English language, but if such is the case he
succeeds admirably in allowing no one except
his most trusted friends to hear him. Much
investigation has failed to reveal any one in
Pretoria who has ever heard him speak the
English language, although reports have it that
he speaks it fluently. He understands the lan-
guage well, and any one who has ever held a
conversation with him through an interDreter

PRESIDENT KRUGER 123

will recall that he occasionally forgets his as-
sumed inability to understand English, and re-
plies to a question before the interpreter has
commenced to translate it.

Mr. Kruger has been twice married. His
first wife, a Miss Du Plessis, was the daughter
of one of the early voortrekkers, and with the
other women took part in many of the Boer
wars against the natives. She died shortly
after the founding of the republic, and left one
son, who lived only a short time. Mr. Kruger
several years afterward married his first wife's
niece, who is now the first lady of the land.
Like almost all Boer women, she has a retir-
ing disposition, and very rarely appears in pub-
lic except at religious gatherings. The Presi-
dent rarely introduces her to his visitors, prob-
ably in obedience to her own desires, but she
constantly entertains the wives and daughters
of burghers who call on her husband.

President and Madame Kruger have had
sixteen children, seven of whom still live. One
of his sons is the President's private secretary,
and a youth of decidedly modern ideas and
tendencies. Another son is a private in the

124 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

Pretoria police, a state military organization
in which he takes great pride. A third occu-
pies his father's farm near Rustenberg. The
other children are daughters, who are married
to Boer farmers and business men. One of
Kruger's sons-in-law is Captain F. C. Eloff, who
was taken prisoner by the Uitlanders during
the raid, and who has since aroused the enmity
of the English residents by freely expressing
his opinion of them in public speeches. Captain
Eloff is several times a millionaire, and lives in
a two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar man-
sion.

Popular report in Pretoria has it that the
President's wealth amounts to a million dollars,
but his mode of living certainly does not be-
tray it. His salary as President is thirty-five
thousand dollars, in addition to which he is
annually allowed fifteen hundred dollars for
house-rent, or '* huishuur." He has long since
purchased the house in which he lives, but, as
the allowance of fifteen hundred dollars is an-
nually paid to him, the English residents aver
that the amount is intended as a slight reim-
bursement to him for the money he spends for

PRESIDENT KRUGER

125

the coffee and tobacco used by the burgher
callers at his cottage. During the later years
of his life Barney Barnato, the wizard of South
African finance, supplied to the President all
the tobacco he used, and consequently Mr.
Kruger was able to save the Government to-
bacco allowance. Barnato also presented to
Mr. Kruger two handsome marble statues of
lions which now adorn the lawn of the presi-
dential residence. A photograph which is
greatly admired by the patriotic Boers repre-
sents Mr. Kruger appropriately resting his hand
on the head of one of the recumbent lions in
a manner which to them suggests the physical
superiority of the Boers over the British.

Mr. Kruger has always been a man of deep
and earnest religious convictions. In his youth
he was taught the virtues of a Christian life,
and it is not recorded that he ever did any-
thing which was inconsistent with his training.
An old Zulu headman who lives near the Vaal
River, in the Orange Free State, relates that
Mr. Kruger yoked him beside an ox in a trans-
port wagon when the trekkers departed from
Natal in the early '40s, and compelled him to

126 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

do the work of a beast; but he has no good
reason for declaring that his bondsman was
Mr. Kruger rather than any one of the other
Boers in the party.

When Mr. Kruger was about thirty-five
years old his religious enthusiasm led him into
an experience which almost resulted in his
death. He had met with some reverses, which
caused him to doubt the genuineness of re-
ligious assistance. He endeavoured to find
comfort and consolation in his Bible, but failed,
and he became sorely troubled. One night,
after bidding farewell to his wife, he disappeared
into the wilderness of the Magalies Hills, a
short distance west of Pretoria. After he had
been absent from his home for several days,
a number of men went to the hills to search
for him, and found him on his knees engaged
in singing and praying. He had been so many
days without food and water that he was too
weak to rise from the ground, and it was neces-
sary for the men to carry him to his home.
Since that experience he has believed himself
to be a special instrument of a divine power,
and by his deeds has given the impression that

PRESIDENT KRUGER 127

he is a leader chosen to defend the liberties
and homes of his people.

He never speaks of his experience in the
hills, but those who have been his friends for
many years say that it marked an epoch in his
life. The Boers, who have none of the mod-
ern cynicism and scepticism, regard him as the
wielder of divine power, while those who ad-
mire nothing which he is capable of doing
scoff and jeer at him as a religious fanatic, and
even call him a hypocrite. Any one who has
observed Mr. Kruger in his daily habits, or
has heard him in the pulpit of the church op-
posite the cottage where he lives, will bear wit-
ness to the intensity and earnestness of his
genuine religious feeling. The lessons of life
which he draws from his own personal experi-
ences, and expounds to his congregation with
no little degree of earnestness, are of such a
character as to remove all doubts which the
mind may have concerning his purity of pur-
pose.

Mr. Kruger's style of writing is unique, but
thoroughly characteristic of himself. The many
references to the Deity, the oftentimes pomp-

128 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

ous style, the words which breathe of the in-
tense interest in and loyalty to his countrymen,
all combine to make his state communications
and proclamations most interesting reading.
The following proclamation, made to the citi-
zens of Johannesburg several days after the
Jameson raid, is typical:

'' To all the Residents of Johannesburg,

'' I, S. J. P. Kruger, State President of the
South African Republic, with the advice and
consent of the Executive Council, by virtue of
Article VI of the Minutes of the Council, dated
January lo, 1896, do hereby make known to
all the residents of Johannesburg and neigh-
bourhood that I am inexpressibly thankful to
God that the despicable and treacherous incur-
sion into my country has been prevented, and
the independence of the republic saved, through
the courage and bravery of my burghers.

*' The persons who have been guilty of this
crime must naturally be punished according
to law — that is to say, they must stand their
trial before the high court and a jury — but
there are thousands who have been misled and

PRESIDENT KRUGER 129

deceived, and it has clearly appeared to me that
even among the so-called leaders of the move-
ment there are many who have been deceived.

'' A small number of intriguers in and out-
side of the country ingeniously incited a num-
ber of the residents of Johannesburg and sur-
roundings to struggle, under the guise of
standing up for political rights, and day by day,
as it were, urged them on; and when in their
stupidity they thought that the moment had
arrived, they (the intriguers) caused one Dr.
Jameson to cross the boundary of the republic.

" Did they ever ask themselves to what they
were exposing you?

'' I shudder when I think what bloodshed
could have resulted had a merciful Providence
not saved you and my burghers.

" I will not refer to the financial damage.

" Now I approach you with full confidence.
Work together with the Government of this
republic, and strengthen their hands to make
this country a land wherein people of all na-
tionalities may reside in common brotherhood.

" For months and months I have planned
what changes and reforms could have been

I30 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

considered desirable in the Government and the
state, but the loathsome agitation, especially
of the press, has restrained me.

" The same men who have publicly come
forward as leaders have demanded reforms
from me, and in a tone and a manner which
they would not have ventured to have done
in their own country, owing to fear for the
criminal law. For that cause it was made im-
possible for me and my burghers, the found-
ers of this republic, to take their preposterous
proposals in consideration.

'' It is my intention to submit a draft law
at the first ordinary session of the Raad, where-
by a municipality, with a mayor at the head,
would be granted to Johannesburg, to whom
the control of the city will be intrusted. Ac-
cording to all constitutional principles, the
Municipal Board will be elected by the people
of the town.

'' I earnestly request you, laying your hands
on your hearts, to answer me this question:
After what has happened, can and may I sub-
mit this to the representatives of the people?
My reply is, I know there are thousands in

PRESIDENT KRUGER 131

Johannesburg and the suburbs to whom I can
intrust such elective powers. Inhabitants of
Johannesburg, render it possible for the Gov-
ernment to go before the Volksraad with the
motto, ' Forgotten and Forgiven.' "

Mr. Kruger's political platform is based on
one of the paragraphs of a manifesto wdiich
he, as Vice-President of the Triumvirate, sent
to Sir Owen Lanyon, the British Resident Com-
missioner, on Dingaan's Day, 1880, when the
Boers w^ere engaged in their second struggle
for independence. The paragraph, which was
apparently written by Mr. Kruger, reads:

" We declare before God, who knows the
heart, and before the world: Any one speaking
of us as rebels is a slanderer! The people of
the South African Republic have never been
subjects of Her Majesty, and never wall be."

The President's hatred of the English was
bred in the bone, and it will never be eradicated.
To see his country free from every English tie
is the aim of his existence, and every act
of his political career has been born with that

132 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

thought. His own political aggrandizement
has always been a secondary thought. He him-
self has declared that there is no one in the re-
public who is able or willing to complete the
independence of the republic wath such little
friction as he, and that, such being the case, he
would be a traitor to desert the cause in the
hours of its gravest peril. He considers per-
sonal victories at the polls of his own country
as mere stepping-stones toward that greater
victory which he hopes to secure over the
English colonial secretary, and the day that
England renounces all claim to suzerainty over
the Transvaal Mr. Kruger will consider his
duty done, and w^ill go into the retirement
which his great work and the fulness of his
years owe him.

For a man w^hose education has been of
the scantiest, and whose people were practical-
ly unheard of until he brought them into
prominence, Paul Kruger has received from
foreign sources many remarkable tributes to
the wisdom with which he has conducted the
affairs of the country under circumstances of
more than ordinary difficulty.

PRESIDENT KRUGER 133

That which he received from Emperor Wil-
liam, of Germany, several days after the re-
pulse of the Jameson raiders, was perhaps the
finest tribute that Mr. Kruger has ever re-
ceived, and one that created a greater sensa-
tion throughout the world than any peaceful
message that ever passed between the heads of
two governments. The cablegram, of w'hich
the text follows, is one of the most priceless
treasures in Mr. Kruger's collection:

" Received January jd, i8g6.

" From Wilhehn I. R., Berlin.
" To President Kruger, Pretoria.

" I tender you my sincere congratulations
that, without appealing to the help of friendly
powers, you and your people have been suc-
cessful in opposing with your own forces the
armed bands that have broken into your coun-
try to disturb the peace, in restoring order,
and in maintaining the independence of your
country against attacks from without.

''WiLHELM I. R."

Prince Bismarck declared that Kruger w^as

the greatest natural-born statesman of the time.
10

134 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

William E. Gladstone, who had many oppor-
tunities to gauge Kruger's skill in diplomacy,
referred to him as the shrewdest politician on
the continent of Africa, and not a mean com-
petitor of those of Europe. Among the titles
which have been bestowed upon him by Eu-
ropean rulers are Knight of the First Class of
the Red Eagle of Prussia, Grand Ofhcer of the
Legion of Honour, Grand Knight of the Leo-
pold Order of Belgium, Grand Knight of the
Netherland Lion, and Grand Knight of the
Portuguese Order of Distinguished Foreigners.

If a detailed history of Mr. Kruger's life
could be obtained from his own lips, it would
compare favourably with those of the notable
characters of modern times. The victories he
has gained in the field of diplomacy may not
have affected as many people as those of Bis-
marck; the defeats administered in battle may
not have been as crushing as those of Napo-
leon, but to his weakling country they were
equally as decisive and valuable.

The great pyramid in the valley of the Nile
is seen to best advantage as far away as Cairo.
Observed close at hand, it serves only to dis-

PRESIDENT KRUGER

135

turb the spectator's mind with an indefinable
sense of vastness, crudity, and weight; from a
distance the relative proportions of all things
are clearly discerned. So it is with the career
of Mr. Kruger. Historic perspective is neces-
sary to determine the value of the man to the
country. Fifty or a hundred years hence, when
the Transvaal has safely emerged from its pe-
riod of danger, there will be a true sense of
proportion, so that his labours in behalf of his
country may be judged aright.

At this time the critical faculty is lacking
because his life work is not ended, and its en-
tire success is not assured. He has earned for
himself, however, the distinction of being the
greatest diplomatist that South Africa has ever
produced. Whether the fruits of his diplomacy
will avail to keep his country intact is a ques-
tion that will find its answer in the results of
future years. He has succeeded in doing that
which no man has ever done. As the head of
the earth's weakest nation he has for more than
a decade defied its strongest power to take his
country from him. That should be sufficient
honour for any man.

CHAPTER VI

INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT KRUGER

As is the rule with them everywhere, Eng-
lishmen in South Africa speak of Mr. Kruger
with contempt and derision. Unprejudiced
Americans and other foreigners in South Africa
admire him for his patriotism, his courage in
opposing the dictatorial policy of England's
Colonial Office, and his efforts to establish a
repubhc as nearly like that of the United States
of America as possible. My desire to see Mr.
Kruger was almost obliterated a week after
my arrival in the country by the words of
condemnation which were heaped upon him
by Englishmen whenever his name was men-
tioned. In nearly every Englishman's mind
the name of '' Oom Paul " was a synonym for
all that was corrupt and vile; few gave him
a word of commendation.

When I came into the pretty little town
136

INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT KRUGER 137

of Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal, where
the President Hves and where he mingles daily
with the populace with as much freedom and
informality as a country squire, there was a
rapid transformation in my opinion of the
man. The Boers worship their leader; to
them he is a second George Washington, and
even a few Englishmen there speak with ad-
miration of him.

The day before my arrival in the town
John McCann, of Johannesburg, who is a
former New-Yorker and a friend of the Presi-
dent, informed Mr. Kruger of my intention to
visit Pretoria. The President had refused in-
terviews to three representatives of influential
London newspapers who had been in the town
three months waiting for the opportunity, but
he expressed a desire to see an American.

" The Americans won't lie about me," he
said to Mr. McCann. " I want America to
learn our side of the story from me. They
have had only the English point of view." I
had scarcely reached my hotel when an emis-
sary from the President called and made an
appointment for me to meet him in the after-

138

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

noon. The emissary conducted me to the
Government Building, where the Volksraad was
in session, and it required only a short time
for it to become known that a representative
from the great sister republic across the At-
lantic desired to learn the truth about the
Boers.

I was overwhelmed with information. Cabi-
net members, Raad members, the Commissioner
of War, the Postmaster General, the most
honoured and influential men of the republic
— men who had more than once risked their
lives in fighting for their country's preserva-
tion— gathered around me and were so eager
to have me tell America of the wrongs they
had suffered at the hands of the British that the
scene was highly pathetic.

One after another spoke of the severe trials
through which their young republic had passed,
the efforts that had been made to disrupt it,
and the constant harassment to Avhich they
had been subjected by enemies working un-
der the cloak of friendship. The majority
spoke English, but such as knew only the
Boer taal were given an opportunity by their

INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT KRUGER 139

more fortunate friends to add to the testimony,
and spoke through an interpreter. Such ear-
nest, such honest conversation it had never
been my lot to hear before. It was a memo-
rable hour that I spent listening to the plaints
of those plain, good-hearted Boers in the heart
of South Africa. It was the voice of the
downtrodden, the weak crying out against the
strong.

When the hour of my appointment with
the President arrived there was a unanimous
desire among the Boers gathered around to
accompany me. It was finally decided by
them that six would be a sufficient number,
and among those chosen were Postmaster-
General Van Alpen, who was a representative
at the Postal Congress in Washington several
years ago; Commissioner of Mines P. Kroeb-
ler. Commissioner of War J. J. Smidt, Justice
of the Peace Dillingham, and former Com-
mandant-General Stephanne Schoeman.

When our party reached the little white-
washed cottage in which the President lives a
score or more of tall and soil-stained farmers
were standing in a circular group on the low

1^0 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

piazza. They were laughing hilariously at
something that had been said by a shorter,
fat man who was nearly hidden from view by
the surrounding circle of patriarchs. A breach
in the circle disclosed the President of the
republic with his left arm on the shoulder of
a long-whiskered Boer, and his right hand
swinging Hghtly in the hand of another of
his countrymen. It was democracy in its
highest exemplification.

Catching a glimpse of us as we were en-
tering on the lawn, the President hastily with-
drew into the cottage. The Boers he de-
serted seated themselves on benches and chairs
on the piazza, relighted their pipes, and puffed
contentedly, without paying more attention
to us than to nod to several of my compan-
ions as we passed them.

The front door of the cottage, or '' White
House," as they call it, was wide open. There
was no flunkey in livery to take our cards,
no white-aproned servant girls to tra-la-la our
names. The executive mansion of the Presi-
dent was as free and open to visitors as the
farmhouse of the humblest bur2:her of the re-

INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT KRUGER 141

public. In their efforts to display their quali-
ties of politeness my companions urged me
into the President's private reception room,
while they lingered for a short time at the
threshold. The President rose from his chair
in the opposite end, met me in the centre
of the room, and had grasped my hand
before my companions had an opportunity
of going through the process of an intro-
duction.

There was less formality and red tape in
meeting '' Oom Paul " than would be required
to have a word with Queen Victoria's butcher
or President McKinley's of^ce-boy.

While Mr. Kruger's small fat hand was hold-
ing mine in its grasp and shaking it vehemently,
he spoke something in Boer, to which I re-
plied, " Heel goed, danke," meaning " Very
well, I thank you." Some one had told me
that he would first ask concerning my health,
and also gave me the formula for an answer.
The President laughed heartily at my reply,
and made a remark in Boer '' taal." The in-
terpreter came up in the meantime and
straightened out the tangle by telling me

142 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

that the President's first question had been
'' Have you any English blood in your veins? '*

The President, still laughing at my reply,
seated himself in a big armchair at the head
of a table on which was a heavy pipe and a
large tobacco box. He filled the pipe, Hghted
the tobacco, and blew great clouds of smoke
toward the ceiling. My companions took
turns in filling their pipes from the President's
tobacco box, and in a few minutes the smoke
was so dense as nearly to obscure my view of
the persons in front of me.

The President crossed his short, thin legs
and blew quick, spirited puffs of smoke while
an interpreter translated to him my expres-
sion of the admiration which the American
people had for him, and how well known the
title '' Oom Paul " was in America. This de-
lighted the old man immeasurably. His big,
fat body seemed to resolve itself into waves
which started in his shoes and gradually worked
upward until the fat rings under his eyes hid
the little black orbits from view. Then he
slapped his knees with his hands, opened his
large mouth, and roared with laughter.

INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT KRUGER 143

It was almost a minute before he regained
his composure sufficiently to take another puff
at the pipe which is his constant companion.
During the old man's fit of laughter one of
my companions nudged me and advised me:
" Now ask him anything you wish. He is in
better humour than I have ever seen him
before." The President checked a second
outburst of laughter rather suddenly and
asked, *' Are you a friend of Cecil Rhodes? "
If there is any one whom " Oom Paul "
detests it is the great colonizer. The Presi-
dent invariably asks this question of stran-
gers, and if the answer is an affirmative
one he refuses to continue the conversa-
tion.

Being assured that such was not the case,
Mr. Kruger's mind appeared to be greatly
reUeved — as he is very suspicious of all strangers
— and he asked another question which is in-
dicative of the religious side of his nature:
" To what Church do you belong? " A speak-
ing acquaintanceship was claimed with the
Dutch Reformed Church, of which the Presi-
dent is a most devout member, and this served

144 ^^^ PAUL'S PEOPLE

to dissipate all suspicions he might have had
concerning me.

The interpreter was repeating a question
to him when the President suddenly interrupted,
as is frequently his custom during a conver-
sation, and asked: " Do the American people
know the history of our people? I will tell
you truthfully and briefly. You have heard
the English version always; now I will give
you ours."

The President proceeded slowly and, be-
tween puffs at his great pipe, spoke deter-
minedly: " When I was a child we were so mal-
treated by the English in Cape Colony that
we could no longer bear the abuses to which
we were subjected. In 1835 we migrated
northward with our cattle and possessions and
settled in Natal, just south of Zululand, where
by unavoidable fighting we acquired territory
from the Zulus. We had hardly settled that
country and established ourselves and a local
form of government when our old enemies
followed, and by various high-handed methods
made life so unendurable that we were again
compelled to move our families and posses-

INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT KRUGER 145

sions. This time we travelled five hundred
miles inland over the trackless veldt and
across the Vaal River, and after many hard-
ships and trials settled in the Transvaal. The
country was so poor, so uninviting, that the
EngUsh colonists did not think it worth their
while to settle in the land which we had
chosen for our abiding-place.

" Our people increased in number, and, as
the years passed, established a form of govern-
ment such as yours in America. The British
thought they were better able to govern us
than we were ourselves, and once took our
country from us. Their defeats at Laing's
Nek and Majuba Hill taught them that we
were fighters, and they gave us our independ-
ence and allowed us to live peaceably for a
number of years. They did not think the
country valuable enough to warrant the repe-
tition of the fighting for it. When it became
known all over the world twelve years ago that
the most extensive gold fields on the globe
had been discovered in our apparently worth-
less country, England became envious and laid
plans to annex such a valuable prize. Thou-

1^6 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

sands of people were attracted hither by our
wonderful gold mines at Johannesburg, and
the English statesmen renewed their attacks
on us. They made all sorts of pretexts to
rob us of our country, and when they could
not do it in a way that was honest and
would be commended by other nations, they
planned the Jameson raid, which w^as merely a
bold attempt to steal our country."

At this point Kruger paused for a moment
and then , added, " You Americans know how
well they succeeded." This sally amused him
and my companions hugely, and they all
joined in hearty laughter.

The President declared that England's at-
titude toward them had changed completely
since the discovery of the gold fields. ^* Up
to that time we had been living in harmony
with every one. We always tried to be peace-
able and to prevent strife between our neigh-
bours, but we have been continually harassed
since the natural wealth of our land has been
uncovered."

Here he relighted his pipe, which had
grown cold while he was detailing the history

INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT KRUGER 147

of the Transvaal Boers, and then drew a par-
able, which is one of his distinguishing traits:
'' The gold fields may be compared to a pretty
girl who is young and wealthy. You all ad-
mire her and want her to be yours, but when
she rejects you your anger rises and you want
to destroy her." By implication England is
the rejected suitor, and the Transvaal the rich
young girl.

Comparing the Boers' conduct in South
Africa with that of the EngHsh, the President
said: " Ever since we left Cape Colony in
1835 we have not taken any territory from
the natives by conquest except that of one
chief whose murderous maraudings compelled
us to drive him away from his country. We
bartered and bought every inch of land we
now have England has taken all the land
she has in South Africa at the muzzles of re-
peating rifles and machine guns. That is the
civilized method of extending the bounds of
the empire they talk about so much."

The Englishmen's plaint is that the re-
public will tax them, but allow them no repre-
sentation in the affairs of government. The

148

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

President explained his side in this manner:
" Every man, be he Englishman, Chinaman, or
Eskimo, can become a naturalized citizen of
our country and have all the privileges of a
burgher in nine years. If we should have a
war, a foreigner can become a citizen in a
minute if he will fight with our army. The
difficulty with the Englishmen here is that
they want to be burghers and at the same
time retain their English citizenship.

*' A man can not serve two masters; either
he will hate the one and love the other, or
hold to the one and despise the other. We
have a law for bigamy in our country, and it
is necessary to dispose of an old love before
it is possible to marry a new."

" Oom Paul " is very bitter in his feeling
against the English, whom he calls his natural
enemies, but it is seldom that he says anything
against them except in private to his most inti-
mate friends. The present great distress in the
Johannesburg gold fields is attributed by the
English residents to the high protective duties
imposed by the Government and the high
freight charges for the transmission of ma-

INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT KRUGER 149

chinery and coal. Mr. Kruger explained that
those taxes were less than in the other colonies
in the country.

** We are high protectionists because ours
is a young country. These new mines have
cost the Government great amounts of money,
and it is necessary for us to raise as much as
we expend. They want us to give them every-
thing gratuitously, so that we may become
bankrupt and they can take our country for
the debt. If they don't like our laws, why
don't they stay away? "

Nowhere in the world is the American Re-
pubHc admired as much outside of its own
territory as in South Africa. Both the Trans-
vaal and the Orange Free State Constitutions
are patterned after that of the United States,
and there is a desire lurking in the breasts of
thousands of South Africans to convert the
whole of the country south of the Zambezi
into one grand United States of South Africa.

Sir Alfred Milner, the Queen's Commis-
sioner to South Africa, said to me several
days before I saw Mr. Kruger that such a

thing might come to pass within the next
II

ISO

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

twenty years. The President hesitated when
I asked him if he favoured such a proposition
to unite all the colonies and republics in the
country. '' If I should say ' Yes,' the Eng-
lish would declare war on us to-morrow." He
appeared to be very cautious on this subject
for a few minutes, but after a consultation
with my companions he spoke more freely.

'' We admire your Government very much,"
he said, '' and think there is none better in
the world. At the present time there are so
many conflicting affairs in this country as to
make the discussion of an amalgamation in-
advisable. A republic formed on the principle
of the United States would be most advan-
tageous to all concerned, but South Africa is
not yet ripe for such a government. I shall
not live to see it."

According to those around him, the Presi-
dent had not been in such a talkative mood
for a long time, and, acting upon that informa-
tion, I asked him to tell me concerning the
Boers' ability to defend themselves in case of
war with England. Many successes against
British arms have caused the Boers to regard

INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT KRUGER 151

their prowess very highly, and they generally
speak of themselves as well able to protect
their country. The two countries have been
on the very verge of war several times during
the last three years, and it was only through
the greatest diplomacy that the thousands of
English soldiers were not sent over the bor-
der of the Transvaal, near which they have
been stationed ever since the memorable raid
of Jameson's troopers.

The President's reply was guarded: ''The
English say they can starve us out of our
country by placing barriers of soldiers along
the borders. Starve us they can, if it is the
will of God that such should be our fate. If
God is on our side they can build a big wall
around us and we can still live and flourish.
We don't want war. My wish is to live in
peace with everybody."

It was evident that the subject was not
pleasant to him, and he requested me to ask
Commissioner of War Smidt, a war-scarred
hero of Majuba Hill, to speak to me on the
ability of the Boers to take care of themselves
in case of a conflict.

152 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

Commissioner Smidt became very enthusi-
astic as he progressed with the expression of
his opinion, and the President frequently
nodded assent to what the head of the War
Department said.

" It is contrary to our national feeling to
engage in war," said Mr. Smidt, '' and we will
do all in our power to avert strife. If, how-
ever, we are forced into fighting, we must de-
fend ourselves as best we are able. There is
not one Boer in the Transvaal who will not
fight until death for his country. We have
demonstrated our ability several times, and
we shall try to retain our reputation. The
English must fight us in our own country,
w^here we know every rock, every valley, and
every hill. They fight at a disadvantage in a
country w^hich they do not know and in a
cUmate to which they are strangers.

'' The Boers are born sharpshooters, and
from infancy are taught to put a bullet in a
buzzard's skull at a hundred yards. One Boer
is equal in a war in our own country to five
Englishmen, and that has been proved a num-
ber of times. We have rugged constitutions,

INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT KRUGER 153

are accustomed to an outdoor life, and can
live on a piece of biltong for days, while the
Queen's soldiers have none of these advantages.

'' They can not starve us out in fifty years,
for we have sources of provender of which
they can not deprive us. We have fortifica-
tions around Pretoria that make it an impos-
sibility for any army of less than fifty thou-
sand men to take, and the ammunition we have
on hand is sufificient for a three years' war.
We are not afraid of the English in Africa,
and not until every Boer in the Transvaal is
killed will we stop fighting if they ever begin.
Should war come, and I pray that it will not,
the Boers will march through English terri-
tory to the Cape of Good Hope, or be erased
from the face of the earth."

Never was a man more sincere in his
statements than the commissioner, and his
companions supported his every sentence by
look and gesture. Even the President gave
silent approval to the sentiments expressed.

" Have you ever had any intention of se-
curing Delagoa Bay from the Portuguese, in
order that you might have a seacoast, as has

154 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

been rumoured many times? " I asked the
President. Delagoa Bay, the finest harbour in
Africa, is within a few miles of the Transvaal,
and might be of great service to it in the
event of war.

" * Cursed be he who removes the landmarks
of his neighbour,' " quoted he. " I never want
to do anything that would bring the venge-
ance of God on me. We want our country,
nothing more, nothing less."

Asked to give an explanation of the causes
of the troubles between England and the
Transvaal, he said:

'' Mr. Rhodes is the cause of all the troubles
between our country and England. He de-
sires to form all the country south of the Zam-
bezi River into a United States of South
Africa, and before he can do this he must
have possession of the Transvaal and the
Orange Free State. His aim in life is to be
President of the United States of South Africa.
He initiated the Jameson raid, and he has
stirred up the spirit of discontent which is be-
ing shown by the Englishmen in the Trans-
vaal. Our Government endeavours to treat

INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT KRUGER 155

every one with like favour, but these Enghsh-
m'en are never satisfied with anything we do.
They want the English flag to wave over the
Transvaal territory, and nothing less. Rhodes
spent milHons of pounds in efforts to steal
our country, and will probably spend millions
more. But we will never leave this land, which
we found, settled, and protected."

Then, rising from his chair and raising his
voice, he continued slowly and deliberately:

'' We will fight until not one Boer remains
to defend our flag and country; our women
and children will fight for their liberties; and
even I, an old man, will take the gun which I
have used against them twice before and use
it again to defend the country I love. But
I hope there will be no war. I want none
and the Boers want none. If war comes, we
shall not be to blame. I have done all in
my power for peace, and have taken many in-
sults from Englishmen merely that my people
might not be plunged into war. I want no
war. I hope that I may spend the rest of my
days in peace."

The President's carriage had arrived in

156 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

front of the cottage to convey him to the
Government Building, and the time had ar-
rived for him to appear before one of the Volks-
raads. He displayed no eagerness to end the
interview, and continued it by asking me to
describe the personahty and ability of Presi-
dent McKinley. He expressed his admiration
of former President Cleveland, with whose De-
partment of State he had some dealings while
John Hays Hammond was confined in the
Pretoria prison for complicity in the Jameson
raid.

His opinion of the Americans in South
Africa was characteristic of the man. " I like
and trust true Americans. They are a mag-
nificent people, because they favour justice.
When those in our country are untainted with
English ideas I trust them implicitly, but
there were a number of them here in Jame-
son's time who were Americans in name
only."

He hesitated to send any message to the
sister republic in America, lest his English ene-
mies might construe it to mean that he cur-
ried America's favour. His friends finally per-

INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT KRUGER 157

suaded him to make a statement, and he dic-
tated this expression of good fellowship and
respect :

" So long as the different sections of the
United States live in peace and harmony, so
long will they be happy and prosperous. My
wish is that the great repubUc in America
may become the greatest nation on earth, and
that she may continue to act as the great
peace nation. I wish that prosperity may be
hers and her people's, and in my daily prayers
I ask that God may protect her and bless her
bounteously."

It being far past the time for his appear-
ance at the Government Building, the Presi-
dent ended the interview abruptly. He re-
filled his pipe, bade farewell to us, and bustled
from the room with all the vigour of a young
man. On the piazza he met his little, silver-
haired wife, who, with a half-knit stocking
pendant from her fingers, was conversing with
the countrymen sitting on the benches. The
President bent down and kissed her affec-
tionately, then jumped into the carriage
and was rapidly conveyed to the Govern-

158 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

ment Building. When the dust obscured
the carriage and the cavalrymen attending it,
one of my companions turned to me and re-
marked :

''Ah! there goes a great man!"

CHAPTER VII

CECIL JOHN RHODES

Sixteen years ago Cecil J. Rhodes, then
a man of small means and no political record,
stood in a small Kimberley shop and looked for
a long time at a map of Africa which hung on
the wall. An acquaintance who had watched
him for several minutes stepped up to Rhodes
and asked whether he was attempting to find
the location of Kimberley. Mr. Rhodes made
no reply for several seconds, then placed his
right hand over the map, and covered a large
part of South and Central Africa from the At-
lantic to the Indian Ocean. "All that Brit-
ish! " he said. " That is my dream."

" I will give you ten years to realize it,"
replied the friend.

" Give me ten more," said Rhodes, " and

then we'll have a new map."

Three fourths of the required time has

159

l6o OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

elapsed, and the full realization of Rhodes's
dream must take place within the next four
years. There remain only two small spaces on
■that part of the map \Yhich was covered by
Rhodes's hand that are not British, and those
are the Orange Free State and the South
African Republic. Mr. Rhodes's success will
come hand-in-hand with the death of the two
republics. The life of the republics hinges on
his failure, and good fortune has rarely de-
serted him.

Twenty-seven years ago Cecil Rhodes, then
a tall, thin college lad, was directed by his phy-
sician to go to South Africa if he wished to live
more than three years. He and his brother
Herbert, the sons of the poor rector of Bishop
Stortford, sailed for Durban, Natal, and reached
that port while the diamond fever was at its
height at Kimberley. The two boys, each less
than nineteen years old, joined a party of ad-
venturers and prospectors, and, after many
vicissitudes, reached the Kimberley fields safely,
but with little or no money. The boys were
energetic, and found opportunities for making
money where others could see none.

CECIL JOHN RHODES i6i

The camp was composed of the roughest
characters in South Africa, all of whom had
flocked thither when the discovery of diamonds
was first announced. Illicit diamond buying
w^as the easiest path to wealth, and was trav-
elled by almost every millionaire whose name
has been connected with recent South African
affairs. Mr. Rhodes is one of the few excep-
tions, and even his enemies corroborate the
statement.

" You don't steal diamonds," said Barney
Barnato to Mr. Rhodes fifteen years ago, " but
you must prove it when accused. I steal them,
but my enemies must prove it. That's the dif-
ference between us."

The youthful Rhodes engaged in many
legitimate schemes for making money, and
saved almost all that he secured. For a short
time he pumped water out of mines, using an
abandoned engine for the purpose, and then
embarked in commercial enterprises. After
spending two or three years in the fields, he
returned to England and resumed his course
at Oxford. In connection with this visit to
England, Mr. Rhodes relates the story of the

l52 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

meeting with the physician who several years
before had placed the Hmit of his existence at
three years.

'' You the same Rhodes? " asked the dis-
comfited doctor when he saw the healthy young
man. '' According to my books, you have
been in your grave some time. Here is the
entry: 'Tuberculosis; recovery impossible.'
You can't be the same Rhodes, sir. Impos-
sible! "

At the end of each term at Oxford Mr.
Rhodes returned to Kimberley, and, by judi-
ciously investing his savings in mining claims,
soon became a power in the affairs of the dia-
mond fields. When the diamond fever was
followed by the usual reaction, and evil days
fell upon the industry, Mr. Rhodes secured all
the shares, claims, and lands that his thousands
would buy. Then he conceived the idea of
making a monopoly of the diamond industry
by consolidating all the mines and limiting the
output.

Lacking the money wherewith to buy the
valuable properties necessary for his plans, he
went to the Rothschilds and asked for finan-

CECIL JOHN RHODES 163

cial assistance. The scheme was extraordinary,
and required such a large amount of money
that the request, coming from such a young
man as Mr. Rhodes was then, staggered the
Rothschilds, and they asked him to call several
days later for an answer.

" My time is valuable," remarked Mr.
Rhodes, rather haughtily. '' I will come again
in an hour for your answer. If you have not
decided by that time, I shall seek assistance
elsewhere."

The Rothschilds sent Mr. Rhodes back to
Africa with the necessary amount of money to
purchase the other claims and property in the
Kimberley district, and, after he had formed
the great De Beers Company, appointed him
managing director for life at a salary of one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year.
Under Mr. Rhodes's management the De Beers
consolidated mines have been earning annual
dividends of almost fifty per cent., and more
than four hundred million dollars' w^orth of
diamonds have been placed on the market.
With the exception of the Suez Canal, the mines
are the best paying property in the world, and

164 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

much of their success is due to the personal
efforts of Mr. Rhodes.

It was while he was engineering the con-
soHdation of the diamond mines that Mr.
Rhodes began his poHtical career. He reaHzed
that his poHtical success was founded on per-
sonal popularity, and more firmly so in a new
country, where the political elements were of
such a diversified character as are usually pres-
ent in a mining community. In the early
days of the Kimberley fields the extent of a
man's popularity depended upon the amount
of money he spent in wining those around
him. Mr. Rhodes was astute enough to ap-
preciate the secret of popularity, and, having
gained it, allowed himself to be named as can-
didate for the Cape Colony Parliament from
the Kimberley district.

By carefully currying the favour of the
Dutch inhabitants, who were not on the friend-
liest political terms with the English colonists,
he was elected. Thereafter Mr. Rhodes's po-
litical star was in the ascendant, and he was
elected successively to the highest office in the
colony's government.

CECIL JOHN RHODES 165

At the age of twenty-eight he was Treas-
urer-General of Cape Colony, and it was while
he filled that office that Chinese Gordon ap-
peared at the Cape and appealed to Mr. Rhodes
to join the expedition to Khartoum. Mr.
Rhodes was undecided whether to resign the
treasurer-generalship and accompany Gordon
or to remain in South Africa, but finally deter-
mined to stay in the colony. Gordon, who
had taken a great fancy to the young and en-
ergetic colonist, was sorely disappointed, and
went to Khartoum, where he was killed.

During the years he held minor Govern-
ment offices Mr. Rhodes formed the alliances
which were the foundation of his later politi-
cal success. He was a friend at the same time
of the Englishman, the Afrikander, the Dutch-
man, and the Boer, and he was always in a
position where he could reciprocate the favours
of one class without incurring the enmity of
another. He worked with the Dutchmen when
protection was the political cry, and with the
Englishmen when subjects dear to them were
in the foreground. He never abused his op-
ponents in political arguments, as the major-

1 66 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

ity of Cape politicians do, but he pleaded
with them on the veldt and at their firesides.

When he was unable to swerve a man's
opinions by words, he has frequently been
charged with having applied the more seduc-
tive method of using money. Mr. Rhodes is
said to be a firm believer in money as a force
superior to all others, and he does not hesitate
to acknowledge his belief that every man's
opinions can be shaped by the apphcation of
a necessary amount of money. This belief he
formed in the early days of the diamond fields,
and it has remained with him ever since.

" Find the man's price " was Mr. Rhodes's
formula for success before he reached the age
of thirty, and his political enemies declare it
has given him the power he desired. In a
country which had such a large roving and
reckless population as South Africa it was not
difficult for a politician with a motto similar to
that of Mr. Rhodes's to become influential at
election periods, nor did it require many years
to establish a party that would support him
on whatever grounds he chose to take.

It was with such a following that Mr.

CECIL JOHN RHODES 167

Rhodes commenced his higher pohtical career
in Cape Colony. When, in 1884, he became
Commissioner of Bechuanaland, the vast and
then undeveloped country adjoining the colony
on the north, and made his first plans for the
annexation of that territory to the British Em-
pire, he received the support of the majority
of the voters of the colony. His first plan of
securing control of the territory was not fa-
vourably received by the Colonial Office in Lon-
don, and no sooner was it pronounced vision-
ary than he suggested another more feasible.

Bechuanaland was then ruled by a mighty
native chief, Lobengula, whose vast armies
roved over the country and prevented white
travellers and prospectors from crossing the
bounds of his territory. In the minds of the
white people of South Africa, Bechuanaland
figured as a veritable Golconda — a land where
precious stones and minerals could be secured
without any attendant labour, where the soil
was so rich as to yield four bounteous harvests
every year.

Mr. Rhodes determined to break the bar-
riers which excluded white men from the na-

l68 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

tive chiefs domain, and sent three agents to
treat with Lobengula. The agents made many-
valuable presents to the old chief, and in 1888,
after much engineering, secured from him an
exclusive concession to search for and extract
minerals in Bechuanaland. The payment for
the concession included five hundred dollars a
month, a thousand rifles and ammunition, and
a small gunboat on the Zam.bezi.

After Mr. Rhodes discovered the real value
of the concession, he and a number of his
friends formed the British South Africa Com-
pany, popularly known as the Chartered Com-
pany, and received a charter from the British
Government, which gave to them the exclusive
right of governing, developing, and trading
in Lobengula's country. Several years after-
ward the white man's government became irk-
some to Lobengula and his tribes, as well as
to the Mashonas, who occupied the immense
territory adjoining Bechuanaland on the east,
and all rebelled. The result was not unlike
those of native rebellions in other countries.
The natives were shot down by trained English
soldiers, their country was taken from them,

CECIL JOHN RHODES 169

and those who escaped death or captivity were
compelled to fly for safety to the new countries
of the north.

The British South Africa Company in 1895
practically became the sole owner of Rhodesia,
the great territory taken from Lobengula and
the Mashonas; and Mr. Rhodes, having realized
part of his dream, began casting about for other
opportunities whereby he might extend the
empire.

Mr. Rhodes was then in the zenith of his
glory. He w^as many times a millionaire, the
head of one of the greatest capitalistic enter-
prises in the world, the director of the affairs
of a dominion occupying one tenth of a con-
tinent, and the Premier of Cape Colony. His
power was almost absolute over a territory that
stretches from the Cape of Good Hope into
Central Africa, and then eastw^ard to within a
few miles of the Indian Ocean. He had armies
under his command, and two governments
were at his beck and call.

But Mr. Rhodes w^as not satisfied. He
looked again at the map of Africa, already
greatly changed since he placed his hand over

ip^O OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

it in the Kimberley shop, but the dream was
not realized. He saw the Transvaal and the
Orange Free State flags still occupying the
positions he had marked for the British em-
blem, and he plotted for their acquisition.

The strife between the Boers and the Uit-
landers in the Transvaal was then at its height,
and Mr. Rhodes recognised the opportunity
for the intervention of England that it afTorded.
Mr. Rhodes did not consider it of sufficient im-
portance to inquire concerning the justice of
the Uitlanders' claims, nor did he express any
sympathy for their cause. In fact, if anything,
he felt that if the Uitlanders were unjustly
treated by the Boers their remedy was simple.
Once he blandly told a complaining Uitlander
that no Chinese wall surrounded the Trans-
vaal, and that to escape from the alleged injus-
tice was comparatively easy.

To Mr. Rhodes the end was sufficient ex-
cuse for the means, and, if the acquisition of
the two republics carried with it the loss of his
Boer friends, he was willing to accept the situ-
ation. The fall of the Transvaal Republic car-
ried with it the subsequent fall of the Orange

CECIL JOHN RHODES 171

Free State, and, in order that he might strike
at the head, he determined to commence his
campaign of exterminating repubHcs by first
attacking the Transvaal.

Whether he had the promise of assistance
from the Colonial Office in London is a sub-
ject upon which even the principals differ.
Mr. Rhodes felt that his power in the country
was great enough to make the attack upon
the Transvaal without assistance from the home
Government, and the plot of the Jameson raid
was formed.

He retired to Groote Schuur, his home at
Cape Town, and awaited the fruition of the
plans he had so carefully made and explained.
His lieutenants might have been overhasty, or
perhaps the Uitlanders in Johannesburg might
have feared the Boer guns too much; what-
ever the reason, the plans miscarried, and Air.
Rhodes experienced the first and greatest re-
verse in his brilliant public career.

The dream which appeared so near realiza-
tion one day was dissolved the next, and with
it the reputation of the dreamer. He was
obliged to resign the premiership of Cape Col-

172

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

ony, many of his best and oldest supporters In
England deserted him, and he lost the respect
and esteem of the Dutch inhabitants of South
Africa, \Yho had always been among his stanch-
est allies. The heroic Rhodes, the idol of Cape
Colony, found himself the object of attack and
ridicule of the majority of the voters of the
colony. The parliamentary inquiry acquitted
him of all complicity in the Jameson raid, it is
true, but the Dutch people of South Africa
never have and never will.

The Jameson raid was a mere incident in
Mr. Rhodes's career; he would probably call it
an accident. Having failed to overthrow the
Transvaal Republic by means of an armed
revolution, he attempted to accomplish the
same object by means of a commercial revo-
lution. Rhodesia, the new country which had
a short time previously been taken from the
Matabeles and the Mashonas, was proclaimed
by Mr. Rhodes to be a paradise for settlers and
an Ophir for prospectors. He personally con-
ducted the campaign to rob the Transvaal of
its inhabitants and its commerce; but the golden
promises, the magnificent farms, the Solomon's

CECIL JOHN RHODES 173

mines, the new railways, and the new telegraph
Hnes all failed to attract the coveted prizes to
the land which, after all, was found to be void
of real merit except as a hunting ground where
the so-called British poor-house, the army,
might pot negroes.

Mr. Rhodes spent hundreds of thousands
of dollars in developing the country which
bears his name, and the British South Africa
Company added thousands more, but the hand
which w^as wont to turn into gold all that it
touched had lost its cunning. To add to Mr.
Rhodes's perplexities, the natives who had been
conquered by Dr. Jameson learned that their
conqueror had been taken prisoner by the
Boers, and rose in another rebellion against
English authority. Mr. Rhodes and one of
his sisters journeyed alone into the enemy's
stronghold and made terms with Lobengu-
la, whereby the revolution was practically
ended.

After the Rhodesian country had been paci-
fied, and he had placed the routine work of
the campaign to secure settlers for the country
in the hands of his lieutenants, Mr. Rhodes bent

1^4 00^"^ PAUL'S PEOPLE

all his energies toward the completion of the
transcontinental railway and telegraph lines
which had been started under his auspices sev-
eral years before, but had been allowed to lag
on account of the pressure of w^eightier mat-
ters. The Cape Town to Cairo railroad and tele-
graph are undertakings of such vast propor-
tions and importance that Mr. Rhodes's fame
might easily have been secured through them
alone had he never been heard of in connec-
tion with other great enterprises.

He himself originated the plans by which
the Mediterranean and Table Bay wall eventual-
ly be united by bands of steel and strands of
copper, and it is through his own personal ef-
forts that the English financiers are being in-
duced to subscribe the money with which his
plans are being carried out. The marvellous
faith which the English people have in Mr.
Rhodes has been illustrated on several occa-
sions w^hen he was called to London to meet
storms of protests from shareholders, who
feared that the two great enterprises were
gigantic fiascos. He has invariably returned to
South Africa with the renewed confidence of

CECIL JOHN RHODES 175

the timid ones and many millions of additional
capital.

Mr. Rhodes has tasted of the power which
is absolute, and he will brook no earthly inter-
ference with his plans. The natives may de-
stroy hundreds of miles of the telegraph lines,
as they have done on several occasions. He
teaches them a lesson by means of the quick-
firing gun, and rebuilds the line. White men
may fear the deadly fever of Central Africa, but
princely salaries and life-insurance policies for
a host of relatives will always attract men to
take the risk. Shareholders may rebel at the
expenditures, but Mr. Rhodes will indicate to
them that their other properties will be ruined
if they withdraw their support from the railway
and telegraph.

A strip of territory belonging to another
nation may be an impediment to the line, but
an interview with the Emperor of Germany or
the King of Portugal will be all-sufificient for
the accomplishment of Mr. Rhodes's purpose.
Providence may swerve him in his purpose
many times, but nations and individuals rarely.

All South Africans agree that Mr. Rhodes

i;6 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

is the most remarkable Englishman that ever
figured in the history of the African continent.
Some will go further and declare that he has
done more for the British Empire than any
one man in history. No two South Africans
will agree on the methods by which Mr. Rhodes
attained his position in the affairs of the coun-
try. Some say that he owes his success to his
great wealth; others declare that his personal
magnetism is responsible for all that he ever
attained. His enemies intimate that political
chicanery is the foundation of his progress, while
his friends resent the intimation and laud his
sterling honesty as the basis of his successful
career.

No one has ever accused him of being the
fortunate victim of circumstances which car-
ried him to the pre-eminent rank he occupies
among Englishmen, although such an opinion
might readily be formed from a personal study
of the man. South Africa is the indolent
man's paradise, and of that garden of physi-
cal inactivity Mr. Rhodes, by virtue of his
pre-eminent qualifications, is king. *' Almost
as lazy as Rhodes " is a South Africanism

CECIL JOHN RHODES ijy

. that has caused Hfelong enmities and rivers of
blood.

He takes pride in his indolence, and de-
clares that the man who performs more labour
than his physical needs demand is a fool. He
says he never makes a long speech because he
is too lazy to expend the energy necessary for
its delivery. He declines to walk more than
an eighth of a mile unless it is impossible to
secure a vehicle or native hammock-bearers to
convey him, and then he proceeds so slowly
that his progress is almost imperceptible. His
indolence may be the result of the same line
of reasoning as that indulged in by the cau-
tious man who carries an umbrella when the
sun shines, in which case every one who has
travelled in the tropics will agree that Mr.
Rhodes is a modern Solomon. The only ex-
ercise he indulges in is an hour's canter on
horseback in the early morning, before the gen-
erous rays of the African sun appear.

Notwithstanding his antipathy to physical
exertion, Mr. Rhodes is a great traveller, and
is constantly moving from one place to an-
other. One week may find him at Groote

I^S OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

Schuur, his Cape Town residence, while the
following week he may be planning a new farm
in far-away Mashonaland. The third week may
have him in the Portuguese possessions on the
east coast, and at the end of the month he may
be back in Cape Town, prepared for a voyage
to England and a fortnight's stay in Paris. He
will charter a bullock team or a steamship with
like disregard of expense in order that he may
reach his destination at a specified time, and
in like manner he will be watchful of his com-
fort by causing houses to be built in unfre-
quented territory which he may wish to inves-
tigate.

So wealthy that he could almost double his
fortune in the time it would require to count
it, Mr. Rhodes is a firm believer in the doctrine
that money was created for the purpose of being
spent, and never hesitates to put it into prac-
tice. He does not assist beggars, nor does he
squander sixpence in a year, but he will pay
the expenses of a trip to Europe for a man
whom he wishes to reconcile, and will donate
the value of a thousand-acre farm to a tribe of
natives which has pleased him by its actions.

CECIL JOHN RHODES

His generosity is best illustrated by a story
told by one of his most intimate friends in
Kimberley. Several years before Barney Bar-
nato's death, that not-too-honest speculator in-
duced almost all of the employees of the dia-
mond mines to invest their savings in the stock
of the Pleiades gold mine in Johannesburg,
which Barnato and his friends were attempting
to manipulate. The attempt was unsuccessful,
and the diamond miners lost all the money they
had invested. Mr. Rhodes heard of Barnato's
deceit, and asked him to refund the money,
but was laughed at. Mr. Rhodes learned the
total amount of the losses — about twenty-five
thousand dollars — and paid the money out of
his own pocket.

Although he has more financial patronage
at his command than almost any banking house
in existence, Mr. Rhodes rarely has sufficient
money in his purse to buy lunch. His valet,
a half-breed Malay named Tony, is his banker,
and from him he is continually borrowing
money. It is related that on a voyage to Eng-
land he offered to make a wager of money,
but found that he had nothing less valuable

l3o OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

than a handful of loose rough diamonds in his
trousers pocket.

Mr. Rhodes is an eloquently silent man.
He talks little, but his paucity of words is no
criterion of their weight. He can condense a
chapter into a word, and a book into a sen-
tence. The man whose hobby is to run an
empire is almost as silent as the Sphinx in the
land toward which that empire is being elon-
gated. His sentences are short and curt. '' I
want a railroad here," or " We want this mine,"
or '' We must have this strip of land," are
common examples of his style of speech and
the expression of his dominant spirit.

He has the faculty of leading people to
believe that they want the exact opposite of
what they really want, and he does it in such
a polished manner that they give their con-
sent before they realize what he has asked
them. His personal charm, which in itself is
almost irresistible, is fortified with a straight-
forward, breezy heartiness, that carries with it
respect, admiration, confidence, and, finally,
conviction. He has argued and treated wath
persons ranging in intelligence and station from

CECIL JOHN RHODES igi

a native chief to the most learned diplomats
and rulers in the world, and his experience has
taught him that argument will win any case.

Lobengula called him '' the brother who
eats a whole country for his dinner." To this
title might be added '' the debater who swal-
lows up the opposition in one breath." Mr.
Rhodes never asks exactly what he wants. He
will ask the shareholders of a company for ten
million, when he really needs only five million,
but in that manner he is almost certain of sat-
isfying his needs. In the same way when he
pleads with an opponent he makes the demands
so great that he can afford to yield half and
still attain his object. Twelve years ago Mr.
Rhodes demanded the appointment of Prime
Minister of the Colony, but he was satisfied
with the Commissionership of Crown Lands
and Works, the real object of his aim.

If Mr. Rhodes had cast his lines in America
instead of South Africa, he would be called a
political boss. He would be the dominant fac-
tor of one of the parties, and he would be able
to secure delegates with as much ease as he

does in Cape Colony, where the population is
13

1 32 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

less mixed than in our country. His political
lieutenants act with the same vigour and on
the same general lines as those in our coun-
try, and if a close examination of their work
could be made, many political tricks that the
American campaigner never heard of would
probably be disclosed.

One of the mildest accusations against him
is that he paid fifty thousand dollars for the
support that first secured for him a seat in the
Cape Colony Parliament, but he has never con-
sidered it worth the time to deny the report.
His political success depends in no little meas-
ure upon his personal acquaintanceship with the
small men of his party, and his method of treat-
ing them with as much consideration and re-
spect as those who have greater influence. He
is in constant communication with the leaders
of the rural communities, and misses no op-
portunity to show his appreciation of their sup-
port. Mr. Rhodes may be kingly when he is
among kings, but he is also a farmer among
farmers, and among the Cape Dutch and Boers
such a metamorphosis is the necessary stepping-
stone to the hearts and votes of that numerous

CECIL JOHN RHODES 183

people. It is not uncommon to find Mr. Rhodes
among a party of farmers or transport riders
each one of whom has better clothing than the
multimillionaire.

When he was in the Cape Parliament Mr.
Rhodes wore a hat which was so shabby that
it became the subject of newspaper importance.
When he is in Rhodesia he dons the oldest suit
of clothing in his wardrobe, and follows the
habits of the pioneers who are settling the coun-
try. He sleeps in a native kraal when he is not
near a town, and eats of the same canned beef
and crackers that his Chartered Company
serves to its mounted police. When he is in
that primeval country he despises ostentation
and displays in his honour, and will travel fifty
miles on horseback in an opposite direction in
order to avoid a formal proceeding of any na-
ture. Two years ago, when the railroad to
Buluwayo, the capital of Rhodesia, was for-
mally opened, Mr. Rhodes telegraphed his re-
grets, and intimated that he was ill. As a mat-
ter of fact he travelled night and day in order
to escape to a place where telegrams and mes-
sages could not reach him. When his host

1 84 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

suggested that he was missing many entertain-
ments and the society of the most distinguished
men of South Africa, Mr. Rhodes smiled and
said: *' For that reason I escaped."

Formahty bores him, and he would rather
live a month coatless and collarless in a native
kraal with an old colony story-teller than
spend half an hour at a state dinner in the
governor's mansion. It is related in this con-
nection that Mr. Rhodes was one of a distin-
guished party who attended the opening of a
railroad extension near Cape Town. While
the speeches were being made, and the chair-
man was trying to find him, Mr. Rhodes slipped
quietly away, and was discovered discarding
his clothing preparatory to enjoying a bath in
a near-by creek.

Mr. Rhodes is unmarried, and throughout
the country has the reputation of being an
avowed hater of women. He believes that a
w^oman is an impediment to a man's existence
until he has attained the object and aim of his
life, and has become deserving of luxuries. He
not only believes in that himself, but takes ad-
vantage of every opportunity to impress the

CECIL JOHN RHODES 185

l^elief upon the minds of those around him.
In the summer of 1897 ^ captain in the volun-
teer army, and one of his most faithful lieuten-
ants in Mashonaland, asked Mr. Rhodes for a
three months' leave of absence to go to Cape
Colony. The captain had been through many
native campaigns, and richly deserved a vaca-
tion, although that was not the real object of
his request for leave. The man wanted to go
to Cape Colony to marry, and by severe cross-
examination Mr. Rhodes learned that such was
the case.

'' I can not let you go to Cape Colony; I
want you to start for London to-morrow. I'll
cable instructions when you arrive there," said
Mr. Rhodes, and the wedding was postponed.
When the captain reached London, a cable-
gram from Mr. Rhodes said simply, " Study
London for three months."

Nowhere in South Africa is there anything
more interesting than Groote Schuur, the coun-
try residence of Mr. Rhodes, at Rondebosch,
a suburb of Cape Town. He has found time
amid his momentous public duties to make his
estate the most magnificent on the continent

1 86 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

of Africa. Besides a mansion which is a rehc
of the first settlers of the peninsula, and now a
palace worthy of a king's occupancy, there is
an estate w^hich consists of hundreds of acres
of land overlooking both the Atlantic and In-
dian Oceans, and under the walls of Table
Mountain, the curio of a country. In addition
to this, there are a zoological collection, which
comprises almost every specimen of African
fauna that will thrive in captivity, and hundreds
of flowering trees and plants brought from
great distances to enrich the beauty of the
landscape.

The estate, which comprises almost twelve
hundred acres, is situated about five miles to
the north of Cape Town, on the narrowest part
of the peninsula, through which the waters of
the two oceans seem ever anxious to rush and
clasp hands. It lies along the northwestern
base of Table Mountain, and stretches down
toward the waters of Table Bay and northward
toward the death-dealing desert know^n as the
Great Karroo. From one of the shady streets
winding toward Cape Town there stretches a
fine avenue of lofty pines and oaks to the man-

CECIL JOHN RHODES 187

. sion of Groote Schuur, which, as its name in-
dicates, was originally a granary, where two

' hundred years ago the Dutch colonizers hoarded
their stores of grain and guarded them against
the attacks of thieving natives.

Although many changes have been made
in the structure since it was secured by Mr.
Rhodes, it still preserves the quaint architec-
tural characteristics of Holland. The scrolled
gables, moulded chimney pots, and wide veran-
das, or '' stoeps," are none the less indicative
of the tendencies of the old settlers than the
Dutch cabinets, bureaus, and other household
furniture that still remains in the mansion from
those early days.

The entire estate breathes of the old Dutch
era. Everything has the ancient setting, al-
though not af the expense of modern con-
venience. While the buildings and grounds are
arranged in the picturesque style of Holland,
the furnishings and comforts are the most mod-
ern that the countries of Europe afford. The
library contains, besides such classics as a gradu-
ate of Oxford would have, one of the largest
collections of books and manuscripts bearing

1 88 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

on Africa in existence. In the same room is
a museum of souvenirs connected with Mr.
Rhodes's work of extending EngHsh empire
toward the heart of the continent. There are
flags captured in wars with the Portuguese,
Union Jacks riddled with shot and cut by as-
segai, and hundreds of curiosities gathered in
Rhodesia after the conquest of the natives. In
this building have gathered for conference the
men who laid the foundations for all the great
enterprises of South Africa. There the Jame-
son raid was planned, it is said, and there, the
Boers say, the directors of the British South
Africa Chartered Company were drinking cham-
pagne while the forces of Dr. Jameson were
engaged in mortal combat with those of
Kruger near Johannesburg.

Surrounding the mansion are most beauti-
ful ga'rdens, such as can be found only in semi-
tropical climates. In the foreground of the
view from the back part of the house is a Dutch
garden, rising in three terraces from the mar-
ble-paved courtyard to a grassy knoll, fringed
with tall pines, and dotted here and there with
graves of former dwellers at Groote Schuur.

CECIL JOHN RHODES 189

Behind the pine fringe, but only at intervals
obscured by it, is the background of the pic-
ture— the bush-clad slopes of Table Mountain
and the Devil's Peak, near enough for every
detail of their strange formations and innumer-
able attractions to be observed. Art and Na-
ture have joined hands everywhere to make
lovely landscapes, in which the colour effects
are produced by hydrangeas, azaleas, and scores
of other flowers, growing in the utmost profu-
sion. Besides the mimosa, palms, firs, and
other tropical trees that add beauty to the
grounds, there is a low tree which is found no-
where else on earth. Its leaves are like the
purest silver, and form a charming contrast to
the deep green of the firs and the vivid bright-
ness of the flowers that are everywhere around.
Undoubtedly, however, the most interest-
ing feature of the estate is the natural zoologi-
cal garden. It is quite unique to have in this
immense park, wath drives six miles in length
and ornamentations brought thousands of miles,
wild animals of every variety wandering about
with as much freedom as if they were in their
native haunts. In this collection are repre-

igO OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

sented every kind of African deer and antelope.
Zebra, kangaroo, giraffe, emu, pheasant, and
ostrich seem to be perfectly contented with
their adopted home, and have become so tame
that the presence of human beings has no ter-
rors for them.

This vast estate, which cost Mr. Rhodes
several million dollars to bring to its present
condition, sees but little of the former Premier
of Cape Colony. His vast enterprises in the
diamond fields of Kimberley and in the new
country which bears his name require so much
of his time that he but seldom visits it. But
his inabihty to enjoy the product of his brain
and labour does not cause the estate to be un-
appreciated, for he has thrown this unique and
charming pleasure resort open to the public,
and by them it is regarded as a national pos-
session.

CHAPTER VIII

THE BOER GOVERNMENT CIVIL AND MILITARY

The Constitution, or Grondwet, of the
South African RepubHc is a modified counter-
part of that of the United States. It differs
in some sahent features, but in its entirety it
has the same general foundation and the same
objects. The executive head of the Govern-
ment is the President, who is elected for a
term of five years. He directs the policy of
the Government, suggests the trend of the
laws, and oversees the conduct of the Execu-
tive Council, which constitutes the real Gov-
ernment. The Executive Council consists of
three heads of departments and six unofficial
members of the First Raad. These nine officials
are the authors of all laws, treaties, and poli-
cies that are proposed to the Volksraads,
which constitute the third part of the Gov-
ernment. There are two Volksraads, one simi-

igi

ig2 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

lar in purpose to our Senate, and the other,
the second Volksraad, not unlike our House
of Representatives, but with far less power.

The first Volksraad consists of twenty-
seven members elected from and by the burgh-
ers, or voters, who were born in the country.
A naturalized burgher is ineligible to the up-
per House. The twenty-seven members of the
Second Raad are naturalized burghers, and
are voted for only by men who have received
the franchise. The second House has control
of the management of the Government works,
telephones, mails, and mines, and has but little
voice in the real government of the country.
Its members are undoubtedly more progressive
and have more modern ideas than those of
the First Raad, and introduce many bills which
would be of undoubted benefit to the country,
but the upper House invariably vetoes all bills
that reach them from that Raad. The First
Raad receives bills and suggestions from the
Executive Council or from the President him-
self, but refers them to a commission for in-
vestigation before any action is taken upon
them. The evidence in support of proposed

THE BOER GOVERNMENT jq^

.measures does not reach the Raad, which only
concerns itself with the report of the com-
mission. The Raad can, by motion, make a
suggestion to the Executive Council that a
certain measure should be formulated, but the
Executive Council and the President have the
authority to ignore the suggestion, leaving
the First Raad without a vestige of authority.
The upper House concerns itself chiefly with
the questions of finance, changes in the Con-
stitution, and the care of the natives. As the
question of finance is so closely connected with
almost every subject that comes before the
Government, it follows that the First Raad
concerns itself with practically the entire busi-
ness of the Government. The popular con-
ception is that the Second Raad, being com-
posed of naturalized citizens, takes less inter-
est in the affairs of the country, and can there-
fore be less safely trusted with their conduct
than the old burghers and Voortrekkers of the
upper House, who would rather declare war
against a foreign power than pass a law in
the least unfavourable to their own country's
interests. In consequence of the Second Raad's

194 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

infinitesimal powers, almost the entire law-
making power of the Government is vested
in the Executive Council and the First Raad.

The First Raad of the Transvaal Republic
is the direct successor of the democratic form
of government that was established by the
Voortrekkers of 1835 when they w^ere journey-
ing from Cape Colony to the northern lands.
The Second Raad was estabHshed in 1890, in
order that the Uitlanders might have repre-
sentation in the government of the country.
It was believed that the newly arrived popu-
lation would take advantage of the opportu-
nities thus offered to take part in the legisla-
tiorf of the republic, and in that way bridge
over the gulf which had been formed between
the two races. The Uitlanders cared little for
the privilege offered to them, and so far in
the history of the Second Raad less than half
a score of its members have been elected by
the new population.

The annual sessions of the Volksraads com-
mence on the first Monday in May, and con-
tinue until all the business of the republic has
been transacted. The members of the two

THE BOER GOVERNMENT 195

Houses receive fifteen dollars a day, and sev-
enty-five cents an hour for services extending
over more than the five hours a day required
by the law. The chairmen, or voorzitters, of
the Raads receive seventeen dollars and fifty
cents a day, and one dollar an hour for extra
time.

The sessions of the Raad are held in the
new million-dollar Government House in the
central part of the town of Pretoria, and are
open to the public except when executive
business is being transacted. The Raad cham-
bers are exquisitely fitted out with rich furni-
ture and tapestries, the windows are of costly
stained glass, and the walls lavishly decorated
with carved wood and fine paintings of the
country's notable men. On a lofty elevation
facing the entrance to the First Raad chamber
is a heavily carved mahogany desk, behind
which is seated the chairman. On his right
is a seat for the President, while on the right
side of that are the nine chairs for the Ex-
ecutive Council. Directly in front and beneath
the chairman's desk are the desks of the three
official secretaries, and in front of these, in

196

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

semicircular form, the two rows of seats and
desks of the Raad members. In the rear of
the chamber on either side of the entrance
are chairs for visitors, wdiile high in the left
side of the lofty chamber is a small balcony
for the newspaper men.

All the members of the Raad are obliged
by law to wear black clothing and white neck-
ties. This law was framed to prevent some
of the rural members from appearing in their
burgher costumes, and has had the effect of
making of the Boer Raads a most sombre-
looking body of lawmakers. Almost all mem-
bers w^ear long frock-coats, silk hats, and heavy
black boots, and wdien, during the recesses,
they appear on the piazza of the Government
Building with huge pipes in their mouths, the
wisdom of the black-clothing law is not ap-
parent. There is little formality in the pro-
ceedings of the Raads. Certain rules are ne-
cessarily followed, but the members attack a
bill in much the same vehement manner as
they would a lion or a panther. There is little
eloquence in the taal, or dialect, that is spoken
in the Raads, and the similes and metaphors

THE BOER GOVERNMENT

197

bespeak the open veldt and the transport path
rather than the council chamber of a nation.

The black-garbed legislators make no pre-
tensions to dignified procedure, and when a
playful member trips another so that he falls
to the floor, or pelts him with paper balls,
the whole Raad joins in laughter. The gaud-
ily dressed pages — one of them is sixty-five
years old and wears a long beard — are on terms
of great familiarity with the members, and
have become mildly famous throughout the
country on account of some practical jokes
they have perpetrated upon the members. It
is only justice to say that these light pro-
ceedings take place only when the President
is not present. When he arrives in the cham-
ber every one rises and remains standing until
the President has seated himself. He gener-
ally takes a deep interest in the subjects be-
fore the House, and not infrequently speaks at
length upon measures for which he desires a
certain line of action. Many of President
Kruger's most important speeches have been
delivered to the Raads, and so great is his in-
fluence over the members that his wishes are

Iq8 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

rarely disregarded. When he meets with op-
position to his views he quickly loses his tem-
per, and upon one occasion called a certain
member who opposed him a traitor, and an-
grily left the chamber. A short time after-
ward he returned and apologized to the mem-
ber and to the Raad for having in his anger
used unseemly language.

One of the most disappointing scenes to
be observed in Pretoria is the horde of Uit-
lander politicians and speculators who are
constantly besieging the Raad members and
the Government officials. At probably no other
national capital are the legislators tempted to
such a great extent as are the Boers, who,
for the most part, are ignorant of the ways
of the world and unfamiliar with great amounts
of money. Every train from Johannesburg,
the Uitlander capital, takes to Pretoria scores
of lobbyists, who use all their powers, both of
persuasion and finance, to influence the minds
of the legislators, either in the way of grant-
ing valuable concessions for small considerations
or of securing the passage of bills favourable
to the lobbyists. It is no wonder that the

THE BOER GOVERNMENT igg

Uitlanders declare that less than one fourth
of the Raad members are unassailably honest
and that all the others can be bribed. The
Boer alone is not blameworthy who, having
never possessed more than one hundred dol-
lars at one time, yields to the constant im-
portunities of the lobbyist and sells his vote
for several thousand dollars.

Beset by such influences, the Raad mem-
bers are naturally suspicious of every bill that
is brought before them for consideration. Their
deliberations are marked by a feeling of inse-
curity akin to that displayed by the inhabit-
ants of a sheep-pen surrounded by a pack of
hungry wolves. They fear to make a move in
any direction lest their motives be misunder-
stood, or they play into the hands of the Uit-
landers. As a consequence of this external
pressure, progress in the improvement of the
methods of governing the country has been
slow. One of the results of the Volksraad's
fearfulness is the absence of local governments
throughout the republic. There are no mu-
nicipaUties, counties, or townships which can
formulate and execute local laws. Even Jo-

200 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

hannesburg, a city of one hundred thousand
population, has no municipal government, al-
though several attempts have been made to
estabHsh one.

The Raads are burdened with the necessity
of attending to all the details which govern
the administration of every city, village, ham-
let, and district in the entire country, and the
time consumed in doing all this leaves little
for the weightier affairs of state. If a five-
dollar road bridge is required in an out-of-the-
w^ay place in the northern part of the repub-
lic, the Raad is obliged to discuss the mat-
ter. If an application for a liquor Hcense
comes from a distant point in the interior, the
Raad is compelled to investigate its character
before it can be voted upon. The disadvan-
tages of this system are so evident that it is
hardly conceivable that no remedy has been
appHed long ago, but the fear of local misman-
agement has prevented the Raad from ridding
itself of this encumbrance upon its time and
patience.

Every legislature of whatever country has
its idiosyncracies, and the Raad is no excep-

THE BOER GOVERNMENT 201

tion. Laws are upon the statute books of
some of the American States that are quite
as remarkable as some of those made by the
Boer legislators. Bills quite as marvellous have
been introduced and defeated in the legisla-
tures of all countries. The Boer Volksraad
has no monopoly of men with quaint ideas.
The examples of Raad workmanship here given
are rare, but true nevertheless:

A man named Dums, whose big farm on
the border became British territory through
a treaty, sued the Transvaal Government for
damages, whereupon the Raad passed a law
that Dums could never sue the Government
for anything. The High Court sustained the
law, and Dums is now a poor cab-driver in
Pretoria. Another man sued the Government
for damages for injuries resulting from a fall
in the street. He was successful in his suit,
but the Raad immediately thereafter passed a
law making it impossible for any person to
sue the Government for injuries received on
public property.

During a severe drought in the Transvaal
an American professional rain-maker asked the

202 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

Raad for a concession allowing him the exclu-
sive privilege to precipitate rain by means of
explosives in the air. The Raad had a long
and animated discussion on the subject, owing
to the opposition of several of the less en-
lightened members, who declared that the
project was sacrilegious. *' It is a sin," they
declared, '' to poke your fingers in the Lord's
eye to make him weep." The abiding faith
which some of the Raad members have in
divine guidance is illustrated by a discussion
that took place in the body shortly after the
Jameson raid. One member declared that
" the Lord will assist us in this matter if we
will only bide our time," whereupon another
member rose and said, " If we do not soon
get down to business and do something with-
out the Lord's assistance, the Lord will take
a holiday and let the Transvaal go to hell."
A law which was in effect for almost two
years made it a misdemeanour for any one to
sing '' God save the Queen " or " Rule Bri-
tannia " in the country. Mass meetings are
prohibited in the Transvaal, but Germany and
other countries with less political foment have

THE BOER GOVERNMENT 203

equally stringent regulations on the same sub-
ject, so the Uitlanders' grievance on that ac-
count is nulHfied.

Second to that of the Volksraad, the high-
est power in the Government of the country
is the High Court, which is composed of some
of the ablest jurists in South Africa. From
a constitutional standpoint the High Court
has no right or power to review the acts of
the Volksraad. The Constitution of the coun-
try gives supreme power to the Volksraad in
all legislative matters, and when a chief jus-
tice of the High Court recently attempted to
extend his jurisdiction over the acts of the
Volksraad that body unceremoniously dismissed
him. The purpose of that part of the Consti-
tution which relates to the subjugation of the
High Court is to prevent some influential ene-
my of the republic from debauching the High
Court and in that way defying the authority
of the Volksraad. In a country which has so
many peculiar conditions and circumstances to
contend with, the safety of its institutions de-
pends upon the centralization of its legislative
and administrative branches, and the wisdom

204 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

of the early burghers who framed the Consti-
tution so that the entire governing power lay
in the hands of the country's real patriots has
been amply demonstrated upon several occa-
sions.

The civil and criminal laws of the country
are administered throughout the different po-
litical divisions by local magistrates, called
land-drosts, who also collect the revenues of
the district and inform the Volksraad of the
needs of the people under their jurisdiction.
The land-drost is the prototype of the old-time
American country squire, in that he settles
disputes, awards damages, and conducts offi-
cial business generally. In the majority of
cases the land-drosts are aged persons who
have the respect and esteem of the members
of the community in which they dwell and to
whom they bear the relation of fatherly ad-
visers in all things. In Johannesburg and Pre-
toria the land-drosts are men of eminent sta-
tion in the legal profession of South Africa,
and are drawn from all parts of the country,
regardless of their political or racial qualifica-
tions. All the court proceedings are conducted

THE BOER GOVERNMENT 205

in the Dutch language, and none but Dutch-
speaking lawyers are admitted to practise be-
fore the bar. The law of the land is Holland-
Roman.

The military branch of the Government is
undoubtedly the best and most effective be-
cause it is the simplest. It is almost primitive
in its simpHcity, yet for effectiveness its supe-
rior is not easily found. The Transvaal glories
in its army, and, as every man between the
ages of sixteen and sixty is a nominal member
of the army, nothing is left undone to make
it worthy of its glory. The standing army
of the republic numbers less than two hundred
men, and these are not always actively engaged.
A detachment of about twenty soldiers is gen-
erally on duty in the vicinity of the Govern-
ment House at Pretoria, and the others are
stationed at the different forts throughout the
republic. The real army of the Transvaal,
however, is composed of the volunteer sol-
diers, who can be mobilized with remarkable
facility.

The head of the army is the commandant-
general, who has his headquarters in Pretoria.

2o6 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

He is under the immediate jurisdiction of the
Volksraad and the President, who have the
power to declare war and direct its conduct.
Second in authority to the commandant-gen-
eral are the commandants, permanent officials
w^ho have charge of the military affairs of the
seventeen districts of the republic. Under the
old South African burgher law each com-
mandant in any emergency '' commandeers " a
certain portion of men from his district.

The various districts are subdivided into
divisions in charge of field-cornets and assist-
ant field-cornets. As soon as the comman-
dant-general issues an order for the mobiliza-
tion of the volunteer army the commandants
and their assistants, the field-cornets, speedily
go from one house to another in their dis-
tricts and summon the burghers from their
homes. When the burgher receives the call,
he provides his own gun, horse, and for-
age, and hastens to the district rendezvous,
where he places himself under the orders of
the field-cornet. After all the burghers of
the district have gathered together, the body
proceeds into an adjoining district, where it

THE BOER GOVERNMENT

207

joins the forces that have been similarly mo-
bilized there. As a certain number of districts
are obliged to join their forces at a defined
locality, the forces of the republic are conse-
quently divided into different army divisions
under the supervisions of the commandants.

In the event that Pretoria were threatened
w^ith attack, the order would be given to move
all the forces to that city. The districts on
the border would gather their men and march
toward Pretoria, carrying with them all the
forces of the districts through which they were
obHged to pass. So simple and perfect is the
system that within forty-eight hours after the
call is issued by the commandant-general four
army divisions, representing the districts in
the four quarters of the republic and consist-
ing of all the able-bodied men in the country,
can be mobilized on the outskirts of Pretoria.
It is doubtful whether there is another nation
on earth that can gather its entire fighting
strength at its seat of government in such a
brief time.

The Transvaal Boer is constantly prepared
for the call to arms. He has his own rifle

2o8 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

and ammunition at his home, and when the
call comes he need only bridle his horse — if he
is so fortunate as to possess an animal so rare
in the Transvaal — stuf¥ several pounds of bil-
tong, or dried beef, in his pockets, and com-
mence the march over the veldt to the district
rendezvous. He can depend upon his wife
and children to care for the flocks and herds;
but if the impending danger appears to be
great, the cattle are deserted and the women
and children are taken to a rendezvous spe-
cially planned for such an emergency. If there
is a need, the Boer woman will stand side by
side with her husband or her brother or her
sweetheart, and will allow no one to surpass
her in repelling the attacks of the enemy.
Joan of Arcs have been as numerous in the
Boer armies as they have been unheralded.

The head of the military branch of the
Transvaal Government for many years has been
Commandant-General P. J. Joubert, who, fol-
lowing President Kruger, is the ablest as well
as the most popular Boer in South Africa.
General Joubert is the best type of the Boer
fighter in the country, and as he represents

THE BOER GOVERNMENT

209

the army, he has always been a favourite with
the class which would rather decide a disputed
point by means of the rifle than by diplomacy,
as practised by President Kruger. General
Joubert, although the head of the army, is
not of a quarrelsome disposition, and he too
beUeves in the peaceful arbitration of differ-
ences rather than a resort to arms. By the
Uitlanders he is considered to be the most
liberal Boer in the republic, and he has upon
numerous occasions shown that he would treat
the newcomers in the country with more leni-
ency than the Kruger Government if he were
in power.

In his capacity of Vice-President of the re-
public he has been as impotent as the Vice-
President is in the United States, but his in-
fluence has always been wielded with a view of
harmonizing the differences of the native and
alien populations. Twice the more liberal and
progressive party of the Boers has put him
forward as a candidate for the presidency in
opposition to Mr. Kruger, and each time he
has been defeated by only a small majority.
The younger Boers who have come in touch

210 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

with the more modern civiHzation have stead-
fastly supported General Joubert, while the
older Boers, who are ever fearful that any one
but Mr. Kruger would grant too many con-
cessions to the Uitlanders, have wielded their
influence against him. Concerning the fran-
chise for Uitlanders, General Joubert is more
liberal than President Kruger, who holds that
the stability of the Government depends upon
the exclusiveness of the franchise privilege.
General Joubert believes that there are many
persons among the Uitlanders who have a real
desire to become citizens of the republic and
to take part in the government. He believes
that an intending burgher should take an oath
of fidelity, and afterward be prepared to do
what he can for the country, either in peace
or war. If after three or four years the appli-
cant for the franchise has shown that he
worked in the interests of the country and
obeyed its laws. General Joubert believes that
the Uitlander should enjoy all the privileges
that a native burgher enjoys — namely, voting
for the candidates for the presidency and the
First Volksraad.

THE BOER GOVERNMENT 21 1

General Joubert's name has been connected
with Transvaal history almost as long and as
prominently as that of President Kruger. The
two men are virtually the fathers of the Boer
republic. General Joubert has always been
the man who fought the battles with armies,
while Mr. Kruger conducted the diplomatic
battles, and both were equally successful in
their parts. General Joubert, as a youth among
the early trekkers from Natal, was reared amid
warfare. During the Transvaal's early battles
with the natives he was a volunteer soldier
under the then Commandant-General Kruger,
and later, when the war of independence was
fought, he became General Joubert. He com-
manded the forces which fought the battles
of Laing's Nek, Bronkhorst Spruit, and Ma-
juba Hill, and he was one of the triumvirate
that conducted the affairs of the Government
during that crucial time. He has been Vice-
President of the republic since the independ-
ence of the country has been re-established,
and conducted the affairs of the army during
the time when Jameson's troopers threatened
the safety of the country. He has had a not-

212 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

able career in the service of his country, and
as a reward for his services he is deserving of
nothing less than the presidency of the repub-
lic after Mr. Kruger's life-work is ended.

General Joubert is no less distinguished as
a diplomatist among his countrymen than
President Kruger, and many stories are cur-
rent in Pretoria showing that he has been able
to accomplish many things wherein Mr. Kru-
ger failed. An incident which occurred imme-
diately after the Jameson raid, and which is
repeated here exactly as related by one of the
participants of the affair, is illustrative of Gen-
eral Joubert and his methods of dealing with
his own people. The story is given in almost
the exact language of the narrator who was
the eyewitness:

'' Shortly after Jameson and his ofBcers
were brought to Pretoria, President Kruger
called about twenty of the Boer commanders
to his house for a consultation. The towns-
people were highly excited, and the presence
of the men who had tried to destroy the re-
public aggravated their condition so that there
were few calm minds in the capital. President

THE BOER GOVERNMENT 213

Kriiger was deeply affected by the seriousness
of the events of the days before, but coun-
selled all those present to be calm. There
were some in the gathering who advised that
Jameson and his men should be shot imme-
diately, while one man jocosely remarked that
they should not be treated so leniently, and
suggested that a way to make them suffer
would be to cut off their ears.

*' One of the men who was obliged to
leave the meeting gave this account to the
waiting throngs in the street, and a few hours
afterward the cable had carried the news to
Europe and America, with the result that the
Boers were called brutal and inhuman. Presi-
dent Kruger used all his influence and elo-
quence to save the lives of the prisoners, and
for a long time he was unsuccessful in secur-
ing the smallest amount of sympathy for
Jameson and his men. It was dawn when
General Joubert was won to the President's
way of thinking, and he continued the argu-
ment in behalf of the prisoners.

" ' My friends, I will ask you to listen pa-
tiently to me for several minutes,' he com-
15

214

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

menced. * I will tell you the story of the
farmer and the neighbour's dog. Suppose that
near your farm lives a man whose valuable
dogs attack your sheep and kill many. Will
you shoot the dogs as soon as you see them,
and in that way make yourself Hable for dam-
ages greater than the value of the sheep that
were destroyed? Or will you catch the dogs
when you are able to do so and, carrying them
to your neighbour, say to him: " I have caught
your dogs; now pay me for the damage they
have done me, and they shall be returned to
you." '

'' After a moment's silence General Jou-
bert's face lighted up joyfully, and he ex-
claimed:

" ' We have the neighbour's dogs in the jail.
What shall we do with them?'

'' The parable was effective, and the coun-
cil of war decided almost instantly to deliver
the prisoners to the British Government."

CHAPTER IX

CAUSES OF THE PRESENT DISSENSIONS

The politicians and the speculators have
been the bane of South Africa. Ill-informed
secretaries of the British Colonial Office might
augment the list, but their stupidity in treating
with colonial grievances is so proverbial as to
admit them to the rank of natural or provi-
dential causes of dissension. Until the Boer
Government came into the foreground, the poli-
ticians and speculators used South Africa as a
huge chessboard, whereon they could manipu-
late the political and commercial affairs of
hundreds of thousands of persons to suit their
own fancies and convenience.

It was a dilettante politician who operated
in South Africa and could not make a cat's-paw
of the colonial secretary in Downing Street,
and it was a stupid speculator who was un-
able to be the power behind the enthroned poli-

215

2i6 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

tician. And South Africa has been the victim.
Hundreds of men have gone to South Africa
and have become miUionaires, but thousands re-
main in the country praying for money where-
with to return home. The former are the poH-
ticians and the speculators; the latter are the
miners, the workingmen, and the tradespeople.

It is a country w^iere the man with a mil-
lion becomes a multimillionaire, and the man
with hundreds becomes penniless. It is the
wealthy man's footstool and the poor man's
cemetery. Men go there to acquire riches; few
go there to assist in making it tenable for white
men. Thousands go there with the avowed
intention of making their fortunes and then to
return. Those who go there as came the im-
migrants to America — to settle and develop
the new country — can be counted only by the
score. Of the million white people south of
the Zambezi, probably one half are mere for-
tune-seekers, who would leave the country the
very instant they secured a moderate fortune.

These have the welfare of the country at
heart only in so far as it interferes or assists
them in attaining their desired goal. They

CAUSES OF THE PRESENT DISSENSIONS 217

w.ould ask that Portugal be allowed to rule all
of South Africa if they received the assurance
that the much-sought-after fortune could be
secured six months sooner. They have no con-
science other than that which prevents them
from stabbing a man to relieve him of his
money. They go to the gold and diamond
fields to secure wealth, and not to assist in de-
veloping law and order, good government, or
good institutions.

The other half of the white population is
composed of men and women who were born
in the country — Afrikanders, Dutch, Boers,
and other racial representatives, and others
who have emigrated thither from the densely
populated countries of Europe, with the inten-
tion of remaining in the country and taking
part in its government and institutions. These
classes comprise the South Africans, who love
their country and take a real interest in its de-
velopment and progress. They know its needs
and prospects, and are abundantly able to con-
duct its government so that it will benefit Boer,
Englishman, Dutchman, Natalian, and native.

The defects in the Government of Cape Col-

7i8 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

ony and Natal are the natural results of the
handicaps that have been placed on the local
legislation by the Colonial Office in London,
who are as ignorant of the real conditions of
their colonies as a Zulu chieftain is of the
political situation in England. The colonial
papers teem with letters from residents who
express their indignation at the methods em-
ployed by the Colonial Office in dealing with
colonial affairs. Especially is this the case in
Natal, the Eden of South Africa, where the deal-
ings of the Colonial Office with regard to the
Zulus have been stupidly carried on. South
African men of affairs who are not bigoted do
not hesitate to express their opinion that Cape
Colony and Natal have been retarded a quar-
ter of a century in their natural growth by the
handicap of the Colonial Office. Their opin-
ion is based upon the fact that every war, with
the exception of several native outbreaks, has
been caused by blundering in the Colonial
Office, and that all the wars have retarded the
natural growth and development of the colo-
nies to an aggregate of twenty-five years. In
this estimate is not included the great harm

o
O

'o
U

CAUSES OF THE TRESENT DISSENSIONS 219

to industries that has been caused by the score
or more of heavy war clouds with which the
country has been darkened during the last half
century. These being some of the difficulties
with which the two British colonies in South
Africa are beset, it can be readily inferred to
what extent the Boers of the Transvaal have
had cause for grievance. In their dealings with
the Boers the British have invariably assumed
the role of aristocrats, and have looked upon
and treated the " trekkers " as sans-culottcs.

This natural antipathy of one race for an-
other has given glorious opportunities for
strife, and neither one nor the other has ever
failed to take quick advantage. The struggle be-
tween the Boers and the British began in Cape
Colony almost one hundred years ago, and it
has continued, with varying degrees of bitter-
ness, until the present day. The recent dis-
turbances in the Transvaal affairs date from
the conclusion of the war of independence in
1 88 1. When the Peace Commissioners met
there was inserted in the treaty one small clause
which gave to England her only right to in-
terfere in the political afifairs of the Transvaal.

220 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

The Boer country at that time was consid-
ered of such little worth that Gladstone de-
clared it was not of sufficient value to be hon-
oured with a place under the British flag. To
the vast majority of the British people it was
a matter of indifference wdiether the Transvaal
was an independent country or a dependency
of their own Government. The clause which
was allowed to enter the treaty unnoticed, and
which during recent years has figured so promi-
nently in the discussions of South African af-
fairs, reads:

'' The South African Republic will con-
clude no treaty or engagement with any state
or nation other than the Orange Free State,
nor with any native tribe to the eastward or
the westward of the republic, until the same
has been approved by her Majesty the Queen.
Such approval shall be considered to have been
granted if her Majesty's Government shall not,
within six months after receiving a copy of
such treaty (which shall be delivered to them
immediately upon its completion), have noti-
fied that the conclusion of the treaty is in con-
flict with the interests of Great Britain, or of

CAUSES OF THE PRESENT DISSENSIONS 221

any of her Majesty's possessions in South
Africa."

When the contents of the treaty were pub-
Hshed to the Boer people, many of them ob-
jected strongly to this clause, and insisted that
it gave the British too great power in the af-
fairs of the republic, and a strenuous effort was
made to have the offending clause eliminated.
In the year 1883 a deputation, which included
Paul Kruger, was sent to London, with a view
of obtaining the abolition of the suzerainty.
This deputation negotiated a new convention
the following year, from which the word
" suzerainty " and the stipulations in regard
thereto were removed. In their report to the
Volksraad, made in 1884, the deputation stated
that the new convention put an end to the
British suzerainty.

February 4, 1884, in a letter to Lord Derby,
then in charge of British affairs, the deputa-
tion announced to him that they expected an
agreement to be contained in the treaty rela-
tive to the abolition of the suzerainty. In his
reply of a week later, Lord Derby made a state-
ment upon which the Boers base their strong-

222 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

est claim that the suzerainty was abolished. He
said:

*' By the omission of those articles of the
convention of Pretoria which assigned to her
Majesty and to the British resident certain spe-
cific powers and functions connected with the
internal government and the foreign relations
of the Transvaal state, your Government will
be left free to govern the country without in-
terference, and to conduct its diplomatic inter-
course and shape its foreign policy, subject only
to the requirement embodied in the fourth arti-
cle of the new draft, that any treaty with a
foreign state shall not have effect without the
approval of the Queen."

For a period of almost ten years the suze-
rainty of England over the Transvaal was an
unknown quantity. With the exception of sev-
eral Government officials, there were hardly
any Englishmen in the country, and no one
had the slightest interest in the affairs of the
Transvaal Government. When gold was dis-
covered in the Randt in quantities that equalled
those of the early days of the California gold
fields, an unparalleled influx of Englishmen and

CAUSES OF THE PRESENT DISSENSIONS 223

foreigners followed, and in several years the
city of Johannesburg had sprung up in the
veldt.

The opening of hundreds of mines, and the
consequent increase in expenditures, made it
necessary for the Transvaal Government to in-
crease its revenues. Mining laws had to be
formulated, new offices had to be created, hun-
dreds of new officials had to be appointed, and
all this required the expenditure of more money
in one year than the Government had spent in
a decade before the opening of the mines.
The Government found itself in a quandary,
and it solved the problem of finances as many
a stronger and wealthier government has done.

Concessions were granted to dynamite,
railway, electric light, electric railway, water,
and many other companies, and these furnished
to the Government the nucleus upon which
depended its financial existence. Few of the
concessions were obtained by British subjects,
and w^hen the monopolies took advantage of
their opportunities, and raised the price of
dynamite and the rates for carrying freight, the
Englishmen, who owned all the mines, natu-

224 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

rally objected. The Boer Government, having
bound itself hand and foot when hard pressed
for money, was unable to compel the conces-
sionaries to reduce their rates.

At that period of the Randt's existence the
speculators appeared, and soon thereafter the
London Stock Exchange became a factor in
the affairs of the Randt. Where the Stock
Exchange leads, the politicians follow, and they
too soon became interested in South African
affairs. Then the treaty of 1883 was found in
the Colonial Office archives, and next appears
a demand to the Boer Government that all
British residents of the Transvaal be allowed to
vote. The Boers refused to give the franchise
to any applicant unless he first renounced his
allegiance to other countries, and, as the Brit-
ish subjects declined to accede to the request,
the politicians became busily engaged in formu-
lating other plans whereby England might ob-
tain control of the country.

At that inopportune time Jameson's troop-
ers entered the Transvaal territory and at-
tempted to take forcible possession of the
country; but they were unsuccessful, and only

CAUSES OF THE PRESENT DISSENSIONS 225

sui:ceeded in directing the world's sympathy
to the Boers. The Jameson raid was practi-
calV Cecil J. Rhodes's first important attempt
to add the Transvaal to the list of South Afri-
can additions he has made to the British Em-
pire. The result was especially galling to him,
as it was the first time his great political schemes
failed of success.

But Rhodes is not the man to weep over
disasters. Before the excitement over the raid
had subsided, Rhodes had concocted a plan to
inflict a commercial death upon the Transvaal,
and in that manner force it to beg for the pro-
tection of the English flag. He opened Rho-
desia, an adjoining country, for settlement, and
by glorifying the country, its mineral and agri-
cultural wealth, and by ofifering golden induce-
ments to Transvaal tradespeople, miners, and
even Transvaal subjects, he hoped to cause such
an efflux from the Transvaal that the Govern-
ment would be embarrassed in less than two
years. The country which bears his name was
found to be amazingly free from mountains of
gold and rivers of honey, and the several thou-
sand persons who had faith in his alluring prom-

226 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

ises remained in Rhodesia less than a year, and
then returned to the Transvaah

The reports of the Rhodesian country that
were brought back by the disappointed miners
and settlers were not flattering to the condition
of the country or the justice of the Govern-
ment. Of two evils, they chose the lesser, and
again placed themselves under the Kruger
Government. When revolution and entice-
ment failed to bring the Transvaal under the
British flag, Rhodes inaugurated a political
propaganda. His last resort was the Colonial
Office in London, and in that alone lay
the only course by which he could attain his
object.

Again the franchise question was resorted
to as the ground of the contention, the dyna-
mite and railway subjects having been so thor-
oughly debated as to be as void of ground
for further contention as they had always been
foreign to British control or interference. The
question of granting the right of voting to the
Uitlanders in the Transvaal is one which so
vitally affects the future life of the Government
that the Boers' concession of that right would

CAUSES OF THE PRESENT DISSENSIONS 22/

be tantamount to presenting the country to
the British Government.

Ninety-nine per cent, of the Uitlanders of
the Transvaal are no more than transient citi-
zens. They were attracted thither by the gold
mines and the attendant industries, and they
have no thought of staying in the Transvaal
a minute after they have amassed a fortune or
a competency. Under no consideration would
they remain in the country for the rest of their
lives, because the climate and nature of the
country are not conducive to a desire for
long residence. It has been demonstrated that
less than one per cent, of the Uitlanders had
suf^cient interest in the country to pass through
the formality of securing naturalization papers
preparatory to becoming eligible for the fran-
chise.

The Boer Government has ofifered that all
Uitlanders of nine years' residence, having cer-
tain unimportant qualifications, should be en-
franchised in two years, and that others should
be enfranchised in seven years — two years for
naturalization and five more years' resident —
before acquiring the right to vote.

228 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

There is a provision for a property quali d-
cation, which makes it necessary for the natvt-
ralized citizen to own a house of no less valut^i
than two hundred and fifty dollars in renting
value, or an income of one thousand dollars.
The residence clause in the Transvaal qualifica-
tions compares favourably with those of Lon-
don, where an Englishman from any part of
the country and settling in the municipality is
obliged to live two years and have certain prop-
erty qualifications before acquiring the right
of franchise.

In full knowledge of these conditions the
Uitlanders insist upon having an unconditional
franchise — one that will require nothing more
than a two-years' residence in the country.
The Boers are well aware of the results that
would follow the granting of the concessions
demanded, but not better so than the Uitland-
ers who make the demands. The latest Trans-
vaal statistics place the number of Boer burgh-
ers in the country at less than thirty thousand.
At the lowest estimate there are in the Trans-
vaal fifty thousand Uitlanders having the re-
quired qualifications, and all of these would be-

CAUSES OF THE PRESENT DISSENSIONS 229

come voters in two years. At the first election
held after the two years had elapsed the Uit-
landers would be victorious, and those whom
they elected would control the machinery of
the Government. The Uitlanders' plan is as
transparent as air, yet it has the approval and
sanction of the English politicians, press, and
public.

The propaganda which Rhodes and other
politicians and stock brokers interested in the
Transvaal gold mines inaugurated a short time
after the Jameson raid has been successful in
arousing the people in England to what they
have been led to believe is a situation unequalled
in the history of the empire-building. But there
is a parallel case. At the same time the Brit-
ish Parliament was discussing the subject of
the alleged injustice under which the English
residents of the Transvaal were suffering, the
colonial secretary was engaged in disposing of
grievances which reached him from the Dutch
residents of British Guiana, in South America,
and which recited conditions parallel to those
complained of by the Uitlanders. The griev-
ances were made by foreign residents of Eng-
16

230 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

lish territory, instead of by English subjects in
a foreign country, and consequently demanded
less serious attention, but their justice was none
the less patent. The three thousand native
Dutch voters in British Guiana have no voice
in the legislative or administrative branches of
the colonial government, owing to the pecul-
iar laws which give to the three thousand Brit-
ish-born citizens the complete control of the
franchise. The population of the colony is
three hundred thousand, yet the three thou-
sand British subjects make and administer the
laws for the other two hundred and ninety-
seven thousand inhabitants, who compose the
mining and agricultural communities and are
treated with the same British contempt as the
Boers. The Dutch residents have made many
appeals for a fuller representation in the Gov-
ernment, but no reforms have been inaugu-
rated or promised.

The few grievances which the Uitlanders
had before the Jameson raid have been multi-
plied a hundredfold and no epithet is too ven-
omous for them to apply to the Boers. The
letters in the home newspapers have allied the

CAUSES OF THE PRESENT DISSENSIONS 23 1

name of the Boers with every viHfying adjec-
tive in the English dictionary, and returning
poHticians have never failed to supply the
others that do not appear in the book.

Petitions with thousands of names, some
real, but many non-existent, have been for-
warded to the Colonial Office and to every other
office in London where they would be received,
and these have recited grievances that even the
patient Boer Volksraad had never heard about.
It has been a propaganda of petitions and let-
ters the Hke of which has no parallel in the
history of politics. It has been successful in
arousing sentiment favourable to the Uitland-
ers, and at this time there is hardly a handful
of persons in England who are not walling to
testify to the utter degradation of the Boers.

Another branch of the propaganda operated
through the Stock Exchange, and its results
were probably more practical than those of the
literary branch. It is easier to reach the Eng-
lish masses through the Stock Exchange than
by any other means. Whenever one of the
" Kaffir " or Transvaal companies failed to make
both ends meet in a manner which pleased the

232 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

stockholders, it was only necessary to blame
the Boer Government for having impeded the
digging of gold, and the stockholders prompt-
ly outlined to the Colonial Office the policy it
should pursue toward the Boers.

The impressions that are formed in watch-
ing the tide of events in the Transvaal are that
the Boer Government is not greatly inferior
to the Government of Lord Salisbury and
Secretary Chamberlain. The only appreciable
difference between the two is that the Boers
are fighting the cause of the masses against the
classes, while the English are fighting that of
the classes against the masses. In England,
where the rich have the power, the poor pay the
taxes, while in the Transvaal the poor have the
power and compel the rich to pay the taxes.
If the Transvaal taxes were of such serious
proportions as to be almost unbearable, there
might be a cause for interference by the Uit-
lander capitalists who own the mines, but there
no injustice is shown to any one. The only
taxes that the Uitlanders are compelled to pay
are the annual poll tax of less than four dollars
and a half, mining taxes of a dollar and a quar-

CAUSES OF THE PRESENT DISSENSIONS 233

ter a month for each claim for prospecting
licenses, and five dollars a claim for diggers'
licenses. Boer and Uitlander are compelled to
pay these taxes without distinction.

The Boers, in this contention, must win or
die. In earlier days, before every inch of Afri-
can soil was under the flag of one country or
another, they were able to escape from Eng-
lish injustice by loading their few possessions
on wagons and " trekking " into new and un-
explored lands. If they yield their country to
the English without a struggle, they will be
forced to live under a future Stock Exchange
Government, which has been described by a
member of the British Parliament as likely to
be " the vilest, the most corrupt, and the most
pernicious known to man." *

The Boers have no better argument to ad-
vance in support of their claim than that which
is contained in the Transvaal national hymn.
It at once gives a history of their country, its
many struggles and disappointments, and its
hopes. It is written in the " taal " of the coun-

* The Hon. Henry Labouchere, in London Truth.

234 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

try, and when sung by the patriotic, deep-voiced
Boers is one of the most impressive hymns that
ever inspired a nation.

THE TRANSVAAL VOLKSLIED.

The four-colours of our dear old land

Again float o'er Transvaal,
And woe the God-forgetting hand

That down our flag would haul !
Wave higher now in clearer sky

Our Transvaal freedom's stay !
(Lit., freedom's flag.)
Our enemies with fright did fly ;

Now dawns a glorious day.

Through many a storm ye bravely stood,

And we stood likewise true ;
Now, that the storm is o'er, we would

Leave nevermore from you
Bestormed by Kaffir, Lion, Brit,

Wave ever o'er their head ;
And then to spite we hoist thee yet

Up to the topmost stead !

Four long years did we beg — aye, pray —

To keep our lands clear, free,
We asked you, Brit, we loath the fray:

" Go hence, and let us be !
We've waited, Brit, we love you not,

To arms we call the Boer ; "

(Lit., Now take we to our guns.)
" You've teased us long enough, we troth,

Now wait we nevermore."

CAUSES OF THE PRESENT DISSENSIONS 235

And with God's help we cast the yoke

Of England from our knee ;
Our country safe — behold and look —

Once more our flag waves free !
Though many a hero's blood it cost,

May all the nations see

(Lit., Though England ever so much more.)
That God the Lord redeemed our hosts ;

The glory his shall be.

"Wave high now o'er our dear old land.

Wave four-colours of Transvaal !
And woe the God-forgetting hand

That dares you down to haul !
Wave higher now in clearer sky

Our Transvaal freedom's stay !
Our enemies with fright did fly ;

Now dawns a glorious day.

CHAPTER X

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE

Ever since the Jameson raid both the
Boers and the Uitlanders have reahzed that a
peaceful solution of the differences between
the two is possible but highly improbable.
The Uitlanders refused to concede anything
to the Boer, and asked for concessions that
implied a virtual abandonment of their coun-
try to the English, whom they have always de-
tested. The Boers themselves have not been
unmindful of the inevitable war with their
powerful antagonist, and, not unlike the tiny
ant of the African desert, which fortifies its
abode against the anticipated attack of wild
beasts, have made of their country a veritable
arsenal.

Probably no inland country in the world is

half so well prepared for war at any time as

that little Government, which can boast of
236

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE 237

having less than thirty thousand voters. The
military preparation has been so enormous that
Great Britain has been compelled, according
to the colonial secretary's statement to the
British Parliament, to expend two and a half
miUion dollars annually in South Africa in
order to keep pace with the Boers. Four
years ago, when the Transvaal Government
learned that the Uitlanders of Johannesburg
were planning a revolution, it commenced the
military preparations which have ever since
continued with unabating vigour. German ex-
perts were employed to formulate plans for the
defence of the country, and European artiller-
ists were secured to teach the arts of modern
warfare to the men at the head of the Boer
army. Several Americans of military train-\
ing became the instructors in the national niili- ^
tary school at Pretoria; and even the women
and children became imbued with the neces-
sity of warlike preparation, and learned the
use of arms. Several million pounds were an-
nually spent in Europe in the purchase of the
armament required by the plans formulated by
the experts, and the whole country was placed

238 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

on a war footing. Every important strategic
position was made as impregnable as modern
skill and arms could make it, and every farm-
er's cottage was supplied with arms and am-
munition, so that the volunteer army might
be mobilized in a day.

In order to demonstrate the extent to
which the military preparation has been car-
ried, it is only necessary to give an account
of the defences of Pretoria and Johannesburg,
the two principal cities of the country. Pre-
toria, being the capital, and naturally the chief
point of attack by the enemy, has been pre-
pared to resist the onslaught of any number
of men, and is in a condition to withstand a
siege of three years. The city lies in the cen-
tre of a square, at each corner of which is a
lofty hill surmounted by a strong fort, which
commands the valleys and the surrounding
country. Each of the four forts has four
heavy cannon, four French guns of fifteen
miles range, and thirty heavy Gatling guns.
Besides this extraordinary protection, the city
has fifty light Gatling guns which can be
drawn by mules to any point on the hills

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE 239

where an attack may be made. Three large
warehouses are filled with ammunition, and
the large armory is packed to the eaves with
Mauser, Martini-Henry, and Wesley-Richards
rifles. Two extensive refrigerators, with a ca-
pacity of two thousand oxen each, are ample
provision against a siege of many months. It
is difficult to compute the total expenditures
for war material by the Boer Government dur-
ing the last four years, but the following offi-
cial announcement of expenses for one year
will serve to give an idea of the vastness
of the preparations that the Government has
been compelled to make in order to guard the
safety of the country:

War-Office salaries $262,310

War purposes 4.7i7,55o

Johannesburg revolt 800,000

Public works 3,650,000

$9,429,860

Johannesburg has extensive fortifications
around it, but the Boers will use them for
other purposes than those of self-protection.
The forts at the Golden City were erected for
the purpose of quelling any revolution of the

240

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

Uitlanders, who constitute almost entirely the
population of the city.

One of the forts is situated on a small
eminence about half a mile north of the busi-
ness part, and commands the entire city with
its guns. Two years were consumed in build-
ing the fortification and in placing the arma-
ment in position. Its guns can rake not only
every street of the city, but ten of the prin-
cipal mine works as well, and the damage that
their fire could cause is incalculable. Another
fort, almost as strong as the one in Jo-
hannesburg, is situated a mile east of the city,
and overshadows the railway and the principal
highway to Johannesburg. The residents of
the city are greatly in fear of underground
W'Orks, which they have been led to beUeve
were constructed since the raid. Vast quan-
tities of earth were taken out of the Johan-
nesburg fort, and for such a length of time did
the work continue that the Uitlanders decided
that the Boers were undermining the city,
and protested to the Government against such
a course. As soon as war is declared and
the women and children have been removed

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE 24 1

from the city, Johannesburg will be rent with
shot and shell. The Boers have announced
their intention of doing this, and the Uit-
landers, anticipating it, seek safety in flight
whenever there are rumours of war, as thou-
sands did immediately before and after the
Jameson affair.

The approaches to the mountain passes
on the border have been fortified with vast
quantities of German and French ordnance,
and equipped with garrisons of men born or
trained in Europe. The approaches to Laing's
Nek, near the Natal border, which have sev-
eral times been the battle ground of the Eng-
lish and Boer forces, have been prepared to
resist an invading army from Natal. Much
attention has been directed to the preparations
in that part of the republic, because the British
commanders will find it easier to transfer forces
from the port of Durban, which is three hun-
dred and six miles from the Transvaal border,
while Cape Town is almost a thousand miles
distant.

But the Pretorian Government has made
many provisions for war other than those enu-

242 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

merated. It has made alliances and friends
that will be of equal worth in the event of
an attack by England. The Orange Free
State, w^hose existence is as gravely imperilled
as that of the Transvaal, will fight hand-in-
hand with its neighbour, just as it was pre-
pared to do at the time of the Jameson
raid, when almost every Free State burgher
lay armed on the south bank of the Vaal
River, awaiting the summons for assistance
from the Kruger Government. In the event
of war the two Governments will be as one,
and, in anticipation of the struggle of the
Boers against the British, the Free State Gov-
ernment has been expending vast sums of
money every year in strengthening the coun-
try's defences. At the same time that the
Free State is being prepared for war, its Govern-
ment ofificials are striving hard to prevent a
conflict, and are attempting to conciliate the
two principals in the strife by suggesting that
concessions be made by both. The Free State
is not so populous as the Transvaal, and con-
sequently can not place as many men in the
field, but the ten thousand burghers who will

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE 243

answer the call to arms will be an acceptable
addition to the Boer forces.

The element of doubt enters into the ques-
tion of what the Boers and their co-religion-
ists of Cape Colony and Natal will do in the
event of war. The Dutch of Cape Colony
are the majority of the population, and, al-
though loyal British subjects under ordinary
circumstances, are opposed to English inter-
ference in the Transvaal's affairs. Those of
Natal, while not so great in numbers, are
equally friendly with the Transvaal Boers, and
would undoubtedly recall some of their old
grievances against the British Government as
sufficient reason to join the Boers in w^ar.

In Cape Colony there is an organization
called the Afrikander Bond which recently has
gained control of the politics of the colony,
and which will undoubtedly be supreme for
many years to come. The motto of the or-
ganization is " South Africa for South Afri-
cans," and its doctrine is that South Africa
shall be served first and Great Britain after-
ward. Its members, who are chiefly Dutch, be-
lieve their first duty is to assist the develop-

244 ^^^^ PAUL'S PEOPLE

ment of the resources of their own country
by proper protective tariffs and stringent legis-
lation in native affairs, and they regard legis-
lation with a view to British interests as of
secondary importance. The Bond has been
very amicably inclined toward its Afrikander
kinsmen in the Transvaal, especially since the
Jameson raid, and every sign of impending
trouble between England and the Boers widens
the chasm between the English and Afrikan-
ders of South Africa. The Dutch approve of
President Kruger's course in dealing with the
franchise problems, and if hostilities break out
it would be not the least incompatible with
their natures to assist their Transvaal and
Free State kinsmen even at the risk of plung-
ins: the whole of South Africa into a civil
war. W. P. Schreiner, the Premier of Cape
Colony, is the leading member of the Bond,
and with him he has associated the major-
ity of the leading men in the colony. Un-
der ordinary conditions their loyalty to Great
Britain is undoubted, but whether they could
resist the influence of their friends in the
Bond if it should decide to cast its fortunes

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE 245

with the Boers in case of war is another
matter.

Of such vast importance is the continued
loyalty of the Dutch of the two colonies that
upon it depends practically the future control
of the Cape by the British Government. Be-
ing in the majority as three to two, and al-
most in supreme control of the local govern-
ment, the Dutch of Cape Colony are in an
excellent position to secede from the empire,
as they have already threatened to do, in
which event England would be obliged to fight
almost the united population of the whites if
she desired to retain control of the country.
With this in mind, it is no wonder that Mr.
Chamberlain declared that England had reached
a critical turning point in the history of the
empire.

The uncertainty of the situation is in-
creased by the doubtful stand which the native
races are taking in the dispute. Neither Eng-
land nor the Boers has the positive assurance
of support from any of the tribes, which out-
number the whites as ten to one; but it will

not be an unwarranted opinion to place the
17

246 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

majority of the native tribes on the side of
the Boers. The native races are always eager
to be the friends of the paramount power,
and England's many defeats in South Africa
during recent years have not assisted in gain-
ing for it that prestige. When England enters
upon a war with the Transvaal the natives will
probably follow the example of the Matabele
natives, who rebelled against the English im-
mediately after Jameson and his men were de-
feated by the Boers, because they believed a
conquered nation could offer no resistance.
The Boers, having won the last battle, are
considered by the natives to be the paramount
power, and it is always an easy matter to in-
duce a subjected people to ally itself with a
supposedly pow^erful one.

The Zulus, still stinging under the defeat
which they received from the British less than
twenty years ago, might gather their war
parties and, with the thousands of guns they
have been allowed to buy, attempt to secure
revenge. The Basutos, east of the Orange
Free State, now the most powerful and the
only undefeated nation in the country, would

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE 247

hardly allow a war to be fought unless they
participated in it, even if only to demonstrate
to the white man that they still retain their
old-time courage and ability. The million
and a half natives in Cape Colony, and the
equal number in the Transvaal, have complained
of so many alleged grievances at the hands of
their respective governments that they might
be presumed to rise against them, though it
is never possible to determine the trend of
the African negro's mind. What the various
tribes would do in such an emergency can be
answered only by the chiefs themselves, and
they will not speak until the time for action
is at hand. Perhaps when that time does
arrive there may be a realization of the na-
tives' dream — that a great leader will come
from the north who will organize all the
various tribes into one grand army and
with it drive the hated white men into the
sea.

It is impossible to secure accurate statis-
tics in regard to the military strength of the vari-
ous colonies, states, and tribes in the country,
but the following table gives a fair idea of

248

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

the number of men who are Hable to military
duty:

Dutch.

English.

Native.

Cape Colony

20,000

7,000

10,000

30,000

10,000

5»ooo

20,000
2,000

175,000
100,000

Natal

Orano'e P ree State

30,000

Transvaal

140,000
2 5, 00 J
30,000

Swaziland and Basutoland

Total

67,000

37,000

570,000

To him who delights in forming possible
coalitions and war situations this table offers
vast opportunities. Probably no other coun-
try can offer such a vast number of possibili-
ties for compacts between nations, races, and
tribes as is presented in South Africa. There
all the natives may unite against the whites,
or a part of them against a part of the whites,
while whites and natives may unite against
a similar combination. The possibilities are
boundless; the probabilities are uncertain.

The Pretorian Government has had an ex-
tensive secret service for several years, and
this has been of inestimable value in securing
the support of the natives as well as the
friendship of many whites, both in South Af-

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE

249

rica and abroad. The several thousand Irish-
men in South Africa have been organized into
a secret compact, and have been and will con-
tinue to be of great value to the Boers. The
head of the organization is a man v^ho is one
of President Kruger's best friends, and his
lieutenants are w^orking even as far away as
America. The sympathy of the majority of
the Americans in the Transvaal is with the
Boer cause, and, although the American con-
sul-general at Cape Town has cautioned them
to remain neutral, they will not stand idly by
and watch the defeat of a cause which they
believe to be as just as that for which their
forefathers fought at Bunker Hill and Lex-
ington.

But the Boers do not rely upon external f
assistance to win their battles for them. When 1
it becomes necessary to defend their liberty
and their country they reverently place their
trust in Providence and their rifles. Their
forefathers' battles were won with such con-
fidence, and the later generations have been
similarly successful under like conditions. The
rifle is the young Boer's primer and the grand-

250 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

father's testament. It is the Boers' avenger of
wrong and the upholder of right. That their
confidence in their rifles has not been misap-
pUed has been demonstrated at Laing's Nek,
Majuba Hill, Doornkop, and in battles with
natives.

The natural opportunities provided by Na-
ture which in former years were responsible
for the confidence which the Boers reposed in
their rifles may have disappeared with the ap-
proach of advancing civilization, but the Boer
of to-day is as dangerous an adversary with
a gun as his father was in the wars with the
Zulus and the Matabeles half a century ago.
The buck, rhinoceros, elephant, and hippo-
potamus are not as numerous now as then,
but the Boer has devised other means by
which he may perfect himself in marksman-
ship. Shooting is one of the main diversions
of the Boer, and prizes are offered for the
best results in contests. It is customary to
mark out a ring, about two hundred and fifty
feet in diameter, in the centre of which a
small stuffed figure resembling a bird is at-
tached to a pole. The marksmen stand on

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE 25 1

the outside of the circle and fire in turn at
the target. A more curious target, and one
that taxes the ability of the marksman, is in
more general use throughout the country. A
hole sufficiently deep to retain a turkey-cock
is dug in a level plot of ground, and over
this is placed a piece of canvas which contains
a small hole through which the bird can ex-
tend and withdraw its head. At a distance of
three hundred feet the bird's head is a target
by no means easily hit.

Military men are accustomed to sneer at
the lack of generalship of the Boer forces, but
in only one of the battles in which they have
engaged the British forces have the trained
mihtary men and leaders been able to cope
with them. In the battle of Boomplaats,
fought in 1848, the English officers can claim
their only victory over the Boers, who were
armed with flintlocks, while the British forces
had heavy artillery. In almost all the encoun-
ters that have taken place the Boer forces were
not as large as those of the enemy, yet the rec-
ords show that many more casualties were in-
flicted than received by them. In the chief en-

252

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

gagements the appended statistics show that
the Boers had only a small percentage of their
men in the casualty Hst, while the British losses
were much greater.

MEN ENGAGED.

CASUALTIES.

Battles.

British.

Boer.

British.

Boer.

Laing's Nek

400
300
600
250
600

550
250
150
300
400

190
142

280
120
100

24
17

Majuba Hill

Broiikhorst

Jameson raid

It is hardly fair to assume that the Boers'
advantages in these battles were gained without
the assistance of capable generals when it is
taken into consideration that there is a military
axiom which places the value of an army rela-
tively with the ability of its commanders. The
Boers may exaggerate when they assert that
one of their soldiers is the equal in fighting
abiHty of five British soldiers, but the results
of the various battles show that they have some
slight foundation for their theory.

The regular British force in South Africa
is comparatively small, but it w^ould require
less than a month to transport one hundred

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE 253

thousand trained soldiers from India and Eng-
land and place them on the scene of action.
Several regiments of trained soldiers are al-
ways stationed in different parts of the coun-
try near the Transvaal border, and at brief no-
tice they could be placed on Boer territory.
Charlestown, Ladysmith, and Pietermaritzburg,
in Natal, have been British military headquar-
ters for many years, and during the last three
years they have been strengthened by the ad-
dition of several regular regiments. The Brit-
ish Colonial Office has been making prepara-
tions for several years for a conflict. Every
point in the country has been strengthened,
and all the foreign powers whose interests in
the country might lead them to interfere in
behalf of the Boers have been placated. Ger-
many has been taken from the British zone of
danger by favourable treaties; France is fear-
ful to try interference alone; and Portugal,
the only other nation interested, is too weak
and too deeply in England's debt to raise her
voice against anything that may be done.

By leasing the town of Lorenzo Marques
from the Portuguese Government, Great Brit-

254

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

ain has acquired one of the best strategic
points in South Africa. The lease, the terms
of which are unannounced, was the culmina-
tion of much diplomatic dickering, in which
the interests of Germany and the South Afri-
can Republic were arrayed against those of
England and Portugal. There is no doubt
that England made the lease only in order to
gain an advantage over President Kruger, and
to prevent him from further fortifying his
country with munitions of war imported by
way of Lorenzo Marques and Delagoa Bay.
England gains a commercial advantage too,
but it is hardly likely that she would care to
add the worst fever-hole in Africa to her ter-
ritory simply to please the few of her mer-
chants who have business interests in the town.
Since the Jameson raid the Boers have
been purchasing vast quantities of guns and
ammunition in Europe for the purpose of pre-
paring themselves for any similar emergency.
Delagoa Bay alone was an open port to the
Transvaal, every other port in South Africa
being under English dominion and conse-
quently closed to the importation of war ma-

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE

255

terial. Lorenzo Marques, the natural port of
the Transvaal, is only a short distance from
the eastern border of that country, and is con-
nected with Pretoria and Johannesburg by a
railway. It was over this railway that the
Boers were able to carry the guns and ammu-
nition with which to fortify their country,
and England could not raise a finger to pre-
vent the little republic from doing as it pleased.
Hardly a month has passed since the raid
that the Transvaal authorities did not receive
a large consignment of guns and powder from
Germany and France by way of Lorenzo Mar-
ques. England could do nothing more than
have several detectives at the docks to take
an inventory of the munitions as they passed
in transit.

The transfer of Lorenzo Marques to the
British will put an effectual bar to any fur-
ther importation of guns into the Transvaal,
and will practically prevent any foreign assist-
ance from reaching the Boers in the event of
another war. Both Germany and England
tried for many years to induce Portugal to
sell Delagoa Bay, but being the debtor of

256 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

both to a great extent, the sale could not be
made to one without arousing the enmity of
the other. Eighteen or twenty years ago Por-
tugal would have sold her sovereign right
over the port to Mr. Gladstone's Govern-
ment for sixty thousand dollars, but that was
before Delagoa Bay had any commercial or
poHtical importance. Since then Germany be-
came the political champion of the Transvaal,
and blocked all the schemes of England to
isolate the inland country by cutting off its
only neutral connection with the sea. Re-
cently, however, Germany has been disappointed
by the Transvaal Republic, and one of the re-
sults is the present cordial relations between
the Teutons and the Anglo-Saxons in South
African affairs.

The English press and people in South
Africa have always asserted that by isolating
the Transvaal from the sea the Boers could
be starved into submission in case of a war.
As soon as the lease becomes effective, Mr.
Kruger's country will be completely surrounded
by English territory, at least in such a way
that nothing can be taken into the Transvaal

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE

257

without first passing through an EngHsh port,
and no foreign power will be able to send
forces to the aid of the Boers unless they are
first landed on British soil. It is doubtful
whether any nation would incur such a grave
responsibiUty for the sake of securing Boer
favour.

Both the Transvaal and England are fully
prepared for war, and diplomacy only can
postpone its coming. The Uitlanders' present
demands may be conceded, but others that
wall follow may not fare so well. A coveted
country will always be the object of attacks
by a stronger power, and the aggressor gen-
erally succeeds in securing from the weaker
victim whatever he desires. Whether British
soldiers will be obliged to fight the Boers
alone in order to gratify the wishes of their
Government, or whether the enemy w^ill be
almost the entire white and black population
of South Africa, will not be definitely known
until the British troop ships start for Cape
Town and Durban.

Whichever enemy it will be, the British
Government will attack, and will pursue in no

258

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

half-hearted or half-prepared manner, as it has
done in previous campaigns in the country.
The Boers will be able to resist and to pro-
long the campaign to perhaps eight months
or a year, but they will finally be obUterated
from among the nations of the earth. It will
cost the British Empire much treasure and
many lives, but it will satisfy those who caused
it — the politicians and speculators.

CHAPTER XI

AMERICAN INTERESTS IN SOUTH AFRICA

An idea of the nature and extent of Ameri-
can enterprise in South Africa might be de-
duced from the one example of a Boston
book agent, who made a competency by sell-
ing albums of United States scenery to the
negroes along the shores of the Umkomaas
River, near Zululand. The book agent is not
an incongruity of the activity of Americans in
that part of the continent, but an example
rather of the diversified nature of the influ-
ences which owe their origin to the nation of
Yankees ten thousand miles distant. The
United States of America have had a deeper
influence upon South Africa than that which
pertains to commerce and trade. The progress,
growth, and prosperity of the American States
have instilled in the minds of the majority of

South Africans a desire to be free from Euro-

259

26o OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

pean control, and to be united under a single
banner, which is to bear the insignia of the
United States of South Africa.

In public, editors and speechmakers in
Cape Colony, Natal, and the Transvaal spend
hours in deploring the progress of American-
isms in South Africa, but in their clubs and
libraries they study and discuss the causes which
led to America's progress and pre-eminence,
and form plans by which they may be able to
attain the same desirable ends. The influence
and example of the United States are not theo-
retical; they are political factors which are felt
in the discussion of every public question and
in the results of every election. The practical
results of American influence in South Africa
may now be observed only in the increasing
exports to that country, but perhaps in an-
other generation a greater and better demon-
stration will be found in a constitution which
unites all the South African states under one
independent government. If any corrobora-
tion of this sentiment were necessary, a state-
ment made by the man who is leader of the
ruling party in Cape Colony would be ample.

AMERICAN INTERESTS IN SOUTH AFRICA 261

" If we want an example of the highest type
of freedom," said W. P. Schreiner, the present
Premier of Cape Colony, " we must look to
the United States of America." *

American influences are felt in all phases of
South African life, be they social, commercial,
religious, political, or retrogressive. Whether
it be the American book agent on the banks
of the Umkomaas, or the American consul-gen-
eral in the governor's mansion at Cape Town,
his indomitable energy, his breezy indiffer-
ence to apparently insurmountable difficulties,
and his boundless resources will always secure
for him those material benefits for which men
of other nationalities can do no more than hope.
Some of his rivals call it perverseness, callous-
ness, trickery, treachery, and what not; his ad-
mirers might ascribe his success to energy,
pluck, modern methods, or to that quality best
described by that Americanism — '' hustling."

American commercial interests in South
Africa are of such recent growth, and already
of such great proportions, that the other na-

* Americans' Fourth of July Banquet, Cape Town, 1897.
18

262 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

tions who have been interested in the trade for
many years are not only astounded, but are
fearful that the United States will soon be the
controlling spirit in the country's commercial
affairs. The enterprise of American business
firms, and their ability to undersell almost all
the other firms represented in the country, have
given an enormous impetus to the export trade
with South African countries. Systematic ef-
forts have been made by American firms to
work the South African markets on an ex-
tensive scale, and so successful have the efforts
been that the value of exports to that country
has several times been more than doubled in a
single year.

Five years ago America's share of the busi-
ness of South Africa was practically infinitesi-
mal; to-day the United States hold second
place in the list of nations which have trade
relations with that country, having outranked
Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, and Italy.
In several branches of trade America surpasses
even England, which has always had all the
trade advantages owing to the supremacy of
her flag over the greater part of the country.

AMERICAN INTERESTS IN SOUTH AFRICA 263

That the British merchants are keenly ahve to
the situation which threatens to transfer the
trade supremacy into American hands has been
amply demonstrated by the efforts which they
have made to check the inroads the Americans
are making on their field, and by the appoint-
ment of committees to investigate the causes
of the decline of British commerce.

American enterprise shows itself by the
scores of representatives of American business
houses who are constantly travelling through
the country, either to secure orders or to in-
vestigate the field wdth a view of entering into
competition with the firms of other nations.
Fifteen American commercial travellers, repre-
senting as many different firms, were regis-
tered at the Grand Hotel, Cape Town, at one
time a year ago, and that all had secured ex-
ceptionally heavy orders indicated that the in-
novation in the method of working trade was
successful.

The laws of the country are unfavourable in
no slight degree to the foreign commercial
travellers, who are obliged to pay heavy licenses
before they are permitted to enter upon any

264 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

business negotiations. The tax in the Trans-
vaal and Natal is $48.66, and in the Orange
Free State and Cape Colony it amounts to
$121.66. If an American agent wishes to make
a tour of all the states and colonies of the coun-
try, he is obliged to pay almost three hundred
and fifty dollars in license fees.

The great superiority of certain American
manufactured products is such that other na-
tions are unable to compete in those lines after
the American products have been introduced.
Especially is this true of American machinery,
which can not be equalled by that of any other
country. Almost every one of the hundreds
of extensive gold mines on the Randt is fitted
out wholly or in part with American machinery,
and, at the present rate of increase in the use
of it, it will be less than ten years when none
other than United States machinery will be
sent to that district. In visiting the great mines
the uninitiated American is astonished to find
that engines, crushing machinery, and even the
electric lights which illuminate them, bear the
name plates of New York, Philadelphia, and
Chicago firms.

AMERICAN INTERESTS IN SOUTH AFRICA 265

The Kimberley diamond mines, which are
among the most extensive and most elaborate
underground works in the world, use Ameri-
can-made machinery almost exclusively, not
only because it is much less costly, but be-
cause no other country can furnish apparatus
that will give as good results. Almost every
pound of electrical machinery in use in the
country was made in America and was insti-
tuted by American workmen.

Instances of successful American electrical
enterprises are afforded by the Cape Town,
Port Elizabeth, and Pretoria street railways,
almost every rail, wire, and car of which bears
the marks of American manufacture. It is a
marvellous revelation to find Philadelphia-made
electric cars in the streets of Cape Town, con-
densing engines from New York State in Port
Elizabeth, and Pittsburg generators and switch-
boards in the capital of the Transvaal, which
less than fifty years ago was under the domin-
ion of savages. Not only did Americans in-
stall the street railways, but they also secured
the desirable concessions for operating the lines
for a stated period. American electricians op-

266 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

erate the plants, and in not a few instances have
financially embarrassed Americans received a
new financial impetus by acting in the capacities
of motormen and conductors.

One street car in Cape Town was for a
long time distinguished because of its many
American features. The Philadelphia-made car
was propelled over Pittsburg tracks by means
of the power passing through Wilkesbarre wires,
and the human agencies that controlled it were
a Boston motorman and a San Francisco con-
ductor. It might not be pursuing the subject
too far to add that of the twelve passengers in
the car on a certain journey ten were Americans,
representing eight different States.

One of the first railroads in South Africa —
that which leads from Lorenzo Marques to the
Transvaal border — was built by an American,
a Mr. Murdock, while American material en-
tered largely into the construction of the more
extensive roads from the coast to the interior.
American rails are more quickly and more
cheaply * obtainable in South Africa than those

* *' But the other day we gave an order for two hundred
and fifty miles of rails. We had a large number of tenders,

AMERICAN INTERESTS IN SOUTH AFRICA 267

of English make, but the influence which is
exerted against the use of other than British
rails prevents their universal adoption. Not-
withstanding the efforts of the influential Eng-
lishmen to secure British manufactures wherever
and w^henever possible, American firms have re-
cently secured the contracts for forty thousand
tons of steel rails for the Cape Colony Railway
-system, and the prospects are that more orders
of a similar nature will be forthcoming.

It is not in the sale of steel rails alone that
the American manufacturer is forging ahead
of his competitors in South Africa. American
manufactured wares of all kinds are in de-
mand, and in many instances they are leaders
in the market. Especially true is this of Ameri-
can agricultural implements, which are so much
more adaptable to the soil and much cheaper
than any other make. Small stores in the

and the lowest tender, you may be sorry to hear, was sent
by an American, Mr. Carnegie. Fortunately, however, the
tender was not in order, and we were therefore able to give
the work to our own people. It may be said that this
American tender was a question of workmen and strikes."
— Cecil J. Rhodes, at a meeting of the stockholders of the
Cape-Cairo Railway, London, May 2, 1899.

268 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

farming communities of Natal and Cape Col-
ony sell American ploughshares, spades, forks,
rakes, and hoes almost exclusively, and it
amazes the traveller to find that almost every
plough and reaper used by the more progres-
sive agriculturists bears the imprint '' Made in
the United States."

It is a strange fact that, although South
Africa has vast areas covered with heavy tim-
ber, almost all the lumber used in the mining
districts is transported thither from Puget
Sound. The native timber being unsuited for
underground purposes and difficult of access,
all the mine owners are obliged to import every
foot of wood used in constructing surface and
•imderground works of their mines, and at great
expense, for to the original cost of the timber is
added the charges arising from the sea and land
transportation, import duties, and handling. The
docks at Cape Town almost all the year round
contain one or more lumber vessels from Puget
Sound, and upon several occasions five such
vessels were being unloaded at the same time.

American coal, too, has secured a foothold
in South Africa, a sample cargo of three thou-

AMERICAN INTERESTS IN SOUTH AFRICA 269

sand tons having been despatched thither at
the beginning of the year. Coal of good qual-
ity is found in several parts of the Transvaal
and Natal, but progress in the development of
the mines has been so slow that almost the
total demand is supplied by Wales. Cape Col-
ony has an extensive petroleum field, but it is
in the hands of conccssionnaires, who, for rea-
sons of their own, refuse to develop it. Ameri-
can and Russian petroleums are used exclu-
sively, but the former is preferred, and is rapidly
crowding the other out of the market.

Among the many other articles of export
to South Africa are flour, corn, butter, pota-
toes, canned meats, and vegetables — all of which
might be produced in the country if South
Africans took advantage of the opportunities
offered by soil and Nature. American live
stock has been introduced into the country
since the rinderpest disease destroyed almost
all of the native cattle, and with such success-
ful results that several Western firms have es-
tablished branches in Cape Town, and are
sending thither large cargoes of mules, horses,
cattle, and sheep. Cecil J. Rhodes has re-

270

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

cently stocked his immense Rhodesian farm
with American Hve stock, and, as his example
is generally followed throughout the country, a
decided increase in the live-stock export trade
is anticipated.

Statistics only can give an adequate idea
of American trade with South Africa; but even
these are not reliable, for the reason that
a large percentage of the exports sent to the
country are ordered through London firms,
and consequently do not appear in the official
figures. As a criterion of what the trade
amounts to, it will only be necessary to quote
a few statistics, which, however, do not repre-
sent the true totals for the reason given. The
estimated value of the exports and the percent-
age increase of each year's business over that
of the preceding year is given, in order that a
true idea of the growth of American trade with
South Africa may be formed:

Year

1895

1896

T897

1898 (estimated)..

Value.

^5,000,000
I2,OCO,000
16,000,000
20,000,000

Per cent in-
crease.

140
33i
25

AMERICAN INTERESTS IN SOUTH AFRICA 271

A fact that is deplored by Americans who
are eager to see their country in the van in all
things pertaining to trade is that almost every
dollar's worth of this vast amount of material
is carried to South Africa in ships sailing under
foreign colours. Three lines of steamships, hav-
ing weekly sailings, ply between the two coun-
tries, and are always laden to the rails with
American goods, but the American flag is car-
ried by none of them. A fourth line of steam-
ships, to ply between Philadelphia and Cape
Town, is about to be established under Ameri-
can auspices, and is to carry the American flag.
A number of small American sailing vessels
trade between the two countries, but their total
capacity is so small as to be almost insignifi-
cant when compared with the great volume
carried in foreign bottoms.

The American imports from South Africa
are of far less value than the exports, for the
reason that the country produces only a few
articles that are not consumed where they
originate. America is the best market in the
w^orld for diamonds, and about one fourth of
the annual output of the Kimberley mines

2;'2 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

reaches the United States. Hides and tallow
constitute the leading exportations to Amer-
ica, while aloes and ostrich feathers are chief
among the few other products sent here.
Owing to this lack of exports, ships going to
South Africa are obliged to proceed to India
or Australia for return cargoes in order to re-
duce the expenses of the voyage.

However great the commercial interests of
the United States in South Africa, they are
small in comparison with the work of indi-
vidual Americans, who have been active in the
development of that country during the last
quarter of a century. Wherever great enter-
prises have been inaugurated, Americans have
been prominently identified with their growth
and development, and in not a few instances
has the success of the ventures been wholly
due to American leadership. European capi-
tal is the foundation of all the great South Afri-
can institutions, but it is to American skill that
almost all of them owe the success which they
have attained.

British and continental capitalists have rec-
ognised the superiority of American methods

AMERICAN INTERESTS IN SOUTH AFRICA 273

by intrusting the management of almost every
large mine and industry to men who were born
and received their training in the United States.
It is an expression not infrequently heard when
the success of a South African enterprise is
being discussed, '' Who is the Yankee? " The
reason of this is involved in the fact that al-
most all the Americans who went to South
Africa after the discovery of gold had been
well fitted by their experiences in the California
and Colorado mining fields for the work which
they were called upon to do on the Randt, and,
owing to their ability, were able to compete
successfully with the men from other countries
who were not so skilled.

Unfortunately, not all the Americans in
South Africa have been a credit to their na-
tive country, and there is a considerable class
which has created for itself an unenviable repu-
tation. The component parts of this class are
men who, by reason of criminal acts, were
obliged to leave America for new fields of en-
deavour, and non-professional men who follow
gold booms in all parts of the world and trust
to circumstances for a livelihood. In the early

274 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

days of the Johannesburg gold fields these men
oftentimes resorted to desperate means, with
the result that almost every criminal act of an
unusually daring description is now credited
against them by the orderly inhabitants. High-
waymen, pickpockets, illicit gold buyers, con-
fidence men, and even train-robbers were active,
and for several years served to discredit the
entire American colony. Since the first gold
excitement has subsided, this class of Ameri-
cans, in which was also included by the resi-
dents all the other criminal characters of what-
ever nationality, has been compelled to leave
the country, and to-day the American colony
in Johannesburg numbers about three thousand
of the most respected citizens of the city.

The American who has been most promi-
nent in South African affairs, and the stanchest
supporter of American interests in that coun-
try, is Gardner F. Williams, the general man-
ager and one of the alternate life governors of
the De Beers Consolidated Diamond Mines at
Kimberley. A native of Michigan, Mr. Williams
gained his mining experience in the mining dis-
tricts of California and other Western States, and

AMERICAN INTERESTS IN SOUTH AFRICA

275

went to South Africa in 1887 to take charge of
the Kimberley mines, which were then in an al-
most chaotic condition. By the appHcation of
American ideas, Mr. WilHams succeeded in mak-
ing of the mines a property which yields an an-
nual profit of about ten million dollars on a
nominal capital of twice that amount. He has
introduced American machinery into the mines,
and has been instrumental in many other ways
in advancing the interests of his native country.
Although Mr. Williams receives a salary twice
as great as that of the President of the United
States, he is proud to be the American con-
sular agent at Kimberley — an ofBce which does
not carry with it sufficient revenue to provide
the star-spangled banner which constantly floats
from a staff in front of his residence.

Dr. J. Perrott Prince is another American
who has assisted materially in extending Ameri-
can interests in South Africa, and it is due to
his own unselfish efforts that the commerce
of the United States with the port of Durban
has risen from insignificant volume to its pres-
ent size. Dr. Prince was a surgeon in the
Union army during the civil war, and after-

276

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

ward was one of the first Americans to go to
the Kimberley diamond fields. He it was who
later induced Dr. Leander Starr Jameson to
accompany him to Kimberley in the capacity
of assistant surgeon — a service which he per-
formed with great distinction until Mr. Rhodes
sent him into Matabeleland to take charge of
the military forces, which later he led into the
Transvaal.

Dr. Prince's renown as a physician was
responsible for a call to Madagascar, whither
he was summoned by Queen Ranavalo. He
remained in Madagascar as the queen's physi-
cian until the French took forcible possession
of the island and sent the queen into exile on
the Reunion Islands. Dr. Prince has lived in
Durban, Natal, for several years, and during
the greater part of that time conducted the of-
fice of American consular agent at a financial
loss to himself. Unfortunately, Dr. Prince was
obliged to end his connection with the consu-
lar service, and the United States are now rep-
resented in Durban by a foreigner, who on
the last Fourth of July inquired why all the
Americans in the city were making such elab-

AMERICAN INTERESTS IN SOUTH AFRICA 277

orate displays of bunting and the Stars and
Stripes.

The consular agent at Johannesburg is John
C. Manion, of Herkimer, N. Y., who represents
a large American machinery company. Mr.
Manion, in 1896, carried on the negotiations
\vith the Transvaal Government by which John
Hays Hammond, an American mining engineer,
was released from the Pretoria prison, where
he had been confined for complicity in the up-
rising at Johannesburg. American machinery
valued at several million dollars has been sent
to South Africa as the result of Mr. Manion's
efforts.

In the gold industry on the Randt, Ameri-
cans have been specially active, and it is due
to one of them, J. S. Curtis, that the deep-
level mines were discovered. In South Africa
a mining claim extends only a specified dis-
tance below the surface of the earth, and the
Governments do not allow claim-owners to
dig beyond that depth. Mr. Curtis found that
paying reefs existed below the specified depth,
and the result was that the Government sold

the underground or deep-level claims with
19

278 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

great profit to itself and the mining com-
munity.

The consulting engineers of almost all the
mines of any importance in the country are
Americans, and their salaries range from ten
thousand to one hundred thousand dollars a
year. John Hays Hammond, who was one
of the first American engineers to reach the
gold fields, was ofBcial mining engineer for
the Transvaal Government, and received a year-
ly salary of twenty-five thousand dollars for
formulating the mining laws of the country.
He resigned that ofifice, and is now the con-
sulting engineer for the British South Africa
Company in Rhodesia and several gold mines
on the Randt, at salaries which aggregate al-
most one hundred thousand dollars a year.
Among the scores of other American engineers
on the Randt are L. I. Seymour, who has con-
trol of the thirty-six shafts of the Randt Mines;
Captain Malan, of the Robinson mines; and
H. S. Watson, of the Simmer en Jack mines,
in developing which more than ten million dol-
lars have been spent.

Another American introduced the system of

AMERICAN INTERESTS IN SOUTH AFRICA 279

treating the abandoned tailings of the mines
by the cyanide process, whereby thousands of
ounces of gold have been abstracted from the
offal of the mills, which had formerly been con-
sidered valueless. Others have revolutionized
different parts of the management of the mines,
and in many instances have taken abandoned
properties and placed them on a paying basis.
It would not be fair to claim that American
ingenuity and skill are responsible for the en-
tire success of the Randt gold mines, but it is
indisputable that Americans have done more
toward it than the combined representatives of
all other nations.

Every line of business on the Randt has
its American representatives, and almost with-
out exception the firms who sent them thither
chose able men. W. E. Parks, of Chicago,
represents Frazer & Chalmers, whose machin-
ery is in scores of the mines. His assistant is
W. H. Haig, of New York city.

The American Trading and Importing Com-
pany, with its headquarters in Johannesburg,
and branches in every city and town in the
country, deals exclusively in American manu-

28o OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

factured products, and annually sells immense
quantities of bicycles, stoves, beer, carriages,
and other goods, ranging from pins to pianos.

Americans do not confine their endeavours
to commercial enterprises, and they may be
found conducting missionary work among the
Matabeles and Mashonas, as well as building
dams in Rhodesia. American missionaries are
very active in all parts of South Africa, and
because of the practical methods by which they
endeavour to civilize and Christianize the na-
tives they have the reputation throughout the
country of being more successful than those
who go there from any other country. In
the Rhodesian country Mr. Rhodes has given
many contributions of land and money to the
American missionaries, and has on several oc-
casions complimented them by pronouncing
their achievements unparalleled.

A practical illustration will demonstrate the
causes of the success of the American mission-
ary. An English missionary spent the first
two years after his arrival in the country • in
studying the natives' language and in building
a house for himself. In that time he had made

AMERICAN INTERESTS IN SOUTH AFRICA 28 1

no converts. An American missionary arrived
at almost the same time, rented a hut, and hired
interpreters. At the end of two years he had
one hundred and fifty converts, many more
natives who were learning useful occupations
and trades, and had sent home a request for
more missionaries with which to extend his
field.

It is rather remarkable that the scouts who
assisted in subduing the American Indians
should later be found on the African continent
to assist in the extermination of the blacks.
In the Matabele and Mashona campaigns of
three years ago, Americans who scouted for
Custer and Miles on the Western plains were
invaluable adjuncts to the British forces, and
in many instances did heroic work in finding*
the location of the enemy and in making way
for the American Maxim guns that were used
in the campaigns.

The Americans in South Africa, although
only about ten thousand in number, have
been of invaluable service to the land. They
have taught the farmers to farm, the miners
to dig gold, and the statesmen to govern.

282 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

Their work has been a credit to the country
which they continue to revere, and whose flag
they raise upon every proper occasion. They
have taken little part in the political disturb-
ances of the Transvaal, because they believe that
the citizens of a republic should be allowed to
conduct its government according to their own
idea of right and justice, independently of the
demands of those who are not citizens.

CHAPTER XII

JOHANNESBURG OF TO-DAY

The palms and bamboos of Durban, the
Zulu policemen and 'ricksha boys, and the
hospitable citizens have been left behind, and
the little train of English compartment cars,
each with its destination " Johannesburg " la-
belled conspicuously on its sides, is winding
away through cane fields and banana groves,
past groups of open-eyed natives and solemn,
thin-faced Indian coolies.

Pretty little farmers' cottages in settings
of palms, mimosas, and tropical plants are
dotted in the green valleys winding around
the innumerable small hills that look for all
the world like so many inverted moss-covered
china cups. Lumbering transport wagons be-
hind a score of sleek oxen, wincing under the
fire of the far-reaching rawhide in the hands

of a sparsely clad Zulu driver, are met and

283

284 ^^^^ PAUL'S PEOPLE

passed in a twinkling. Neatly thatched huts
with natives lazily lolling in the sun become
more frequent as the train rolls on toward
the interior, and the greenness of the land-
scape is changing into the brown of dead ver-
dure, for it is the dry season — the South Afri-
can winter. The hills become more frequent,
and the little locomotive goes more slowly,
while the train twists and writhes along its
path like a huge python.

Now it is on the hilltop from which the
distant sea and its coast fringe of green are
visible on the one side, and nothing but tree-
less brown mountain tops on the other. A
minute later it plunges down the hillside, along
rocky precipices, over deep chasms, and then
wearily plods up the zigzag course of another
hillside. For five hours or more the monot-
ony of miniature mountains continues, relieved
by nothing more interesting than the noise
of the train and the hilarious laughter and
weird songs of a car load of Zulus bound for
the gold fields. After this comes an undulat-
ing plain and towns with far less interest in
their appearance than in their names. The

Zulu maidens shaking hands.

JOHANNESBURG OF TO-DAY 285

traveller surfeited with Natal scenery finds
amusement and diversion in the conductor's call
of Umbilo, Umkomaas, Umgeni, Amanzimtoti,
Isipingo, Mooi River, Zwartkop, or Pieter-
maritzburg, but will not attempt to learn the
proper pronunciation of the names unless he
has weeks at his command. ^

Farther on in the journey an ostrich, escaped
from a farm, stalks over the plain, and, ap-
proaching to within several yards of the train,
jogs along for many miles, and perchance
wheedles the engineer into impromptu races.
Hardly has the bird disappeared when on the
wide veldt a herd of buck galloping with their
long heads down, or a large number of wilde-
beest, plunging and jumping like animated
hobby-horses, raise clouds of dust as they dash
away from the monster of iron and steam.
Shortly afterward the train passes a waterfall
almost thrice as lofty as Niagara, but located
in the middle of the plain, into whose surface
the water has riven a deep and narrow chasm.

Since the balmy Indian Ocean has been
left behind, the train has been rising steadily,
sometimes an inch in a mile but oftener a

286 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

hundred feet, and the air has grown cooler.
The thousands of British soldiers at Ladysmith
are wearing heavy clothing; their horses, teth-
ered in the open air, are shivering, and far
to the westward is the cause of it all — the
lofty, snow-covered peaks of the Dragon
Mountain. Night comes on and clothes the
craggy mountains and broken valleys with
varying shades of sombreness. The moon out-
lines the snow far above, and with its rays
marks the lofty line where sky and mountain
crest seem to join. Morning light greets the
train as it dashes down the mountain side,
through the passes that connect Natal with
the Transvaal and out upon the withered grass
of the flat, uninteresting veldt of the Boer
country.

The South African veldt in all its winter
hideousness lies before you. It stretches out
in all directions — to the north and south, to
the east and west — and seems to have no bound-
aries. Its yellowdsh brownness eats into the
brain, and the eyes grow w^eary from the mo-
notony of the scene. Hour after hour the
train bears onward in a straight line, but the

JOHANNESBURG OF TO-DAY 287

landscape remains the same. But for noises
and motions of the cars you would imagine
that the train was stationary, so far as change
of scenery is concerned. Occasionally a colony
of huge ant-heaps or a few buck or deer may
be passed, but for hours it is veldt, veldt,
veldt! An entire day's journey, unrelieved
except toward the end by a few straggling
towns of Boer farmhouses or the sheet-iron
cabins of prospectors, bring it to Heidelberg,
once the metropolis as well as the capital of
the republic, but now pining because the for-
mer distinguishing mark has been yielded to
its neighbour, Johannesburg.

As the shades of another night commence
to fall, the veldt suddenly assumes a new coun-
tenance. Lights begin to sparkle, buildings
close together appear, and scores of tall smoke-
stacks tower against the background of the
sky. The presence of the smoke-stacks denote
the arrival at the Randt, and for twenty miles
the train rushes along this well-defined gold-
yielding strip of land. Buildings, Hghts, stacks,
and people become more numerous as the train
progresses into the city limits of Johannes-

288 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

burg, and the traveller soon finds himself in
the middle of a crowd of enthusiastic welcom-
ing and welcomed persons on the platform of
the station of the Nederlandsche Z'uid-Afri-
kaansche Spoorweg-Maatschappij, and in the
Golden City.

The sudden change from* the dreary life-
lessness of the veldt to the exciting crush and
bustle of the station platform crowd is almost
bewildering, because it is so different from
what is expected in interior Africa. The sta-
tion, a magnificent structure of stone and
iron, presents more animated scenes whenever
trains arrive than the Grand Central in New
York or the Victoria in London, because
every passenger is invariably met at the train
by all his friends and as many of their friends
as the station platform will accommodate.
The crowd which surges around this centre
of the city's life is of a more cosmopolitan
character than that which can be found in any
other city in the world with the exceptions
of Zanzibar and Port Said. Almost every race
is represented in the gathering, which is sug-
gestive of a mass meeting of the villagers of

JOHANNESBURG OF TO-DAY 289

the Midway Plaisance at the Columbian Ex-
position. In the crowd are stolid Anglo-
Saxons shaking hands effusively; enthusiastic
Latins embracing each other; negroes rubbing
noses and cheeks; smiling Japanese; cold, stern
Chinese; Cingalese, Russians, Malays, and
Egyptians — all in their national costumes, and
all welcoming friends in their native manner
and language. Meandering through the crowd
are several keen-eyed Boer policemen, com-
monly called " Zarps," politely directing the
attention of innocent-looking newcomers to
placards bearing the inscription " Pas op Zak-
kenrollers," which is the Boer warning of
pickpockets.

After the traveller has forced a way through
the crowd he is attacked by a horde of cab-
men who can teach tricks of the trade to
the London and New York night-hawks.
Their equipages range from dilapidated
broughams to antique 'rickshas, but their
charges are the same — " a quid,'' or five dol-
lars, either for a mile or a minute's ride. After
the insults which follow a refusal to enter
one of their conveyances have subsided, the

290 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

agents of the hotels commence a vociferous
campaign against the newcomers, and very
clever it is in its way. They are able to dis-
tinguish a foreigner at one glance, and will
change the name of the hotel w^hich they rep-
resent a score of times in as many seconds in
order to bag their quarry. For the patriotic
American they have the New York Hotel, the
Denver House, the Hotel California, and many
other hostelries named after American cities.
" Hey, Yank! " they will salute an American,
" Come up to the New York Hotel and patron-
ize American enterprise." If the traveller will
accompany one of these agents he will find that
all the names apply to one hotel, which has an
American name but is conducted and patronized
by a low class of foreigners. The victim of mis-
representation will seek another hotel, and
will be fortunate if he finds comfortable quar-
ters for less than ten dollars a day, or three
times the amount he would be called upon
to pay at a far better hotel in any American
city of equal size. The privilege of fasting, or
of awakening in the morning with a layer of
dust an eighth of an inch deep on the coun-

JOHANNESBURG OF TO-DAY 291

terpane and on the face may be ample return
for the extraordinary charges, but the stranger
in the city is not apt to adopt that view of
the situation until he is acclimated.

The person who has spent several days in
crossing the veldt and enters Johannesburg
by night has a strange revelation before him
when he is awakened the following morning.
He has been led to believe that the city is a
motley collection of corrugated-iron hovels,
hastily constructed cabins, and cheap public
buildings. Instead he finds a beautiful city,
with well-paved streets, magnificent buildings
of stone and brick, expensive public buildings,
and scores of palatial residences. Many Ameri-
can cities of the same size and many times
older can not show as costly buildings or as
fine public works. Hotels of five and six
stories, and occupying, in several instances, al-
most entire blocks, are numerous; of office
buildings costing a quarter of a million dol-
lars each there are half a score; banks, shops,
and newspapers have three- and four-story
buildings of brick and stone, while there are
hundreds of other buildings that would be

i292 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

creditable to any large city in America or
Europe. The Government Building in the
centre of the city is a five-story granite struc-
ture of no mean architectural beauty. In the
suburbs are many magnificent private resi-
dences of mine owners and managers who,
although not permanent residents of the city,
have invested large amounts of money, so that
the short time they spend in the country may
be amid luxurious and comfortable surround-
ings.

One of the disagreeable features of living
in Johannesburg is the dust which is present
everywhere during the dry season. It rises in
great, thick clouds on the surrounding veldt,
and, obscuring the sun, wholly envelops the
city in semi-darkness. One minute the air is
clear and there is not a breath of wind; sev-
eral minutes later a hurricane is blowing and
blankets of dust are falHng. The dust clouds
generally rise west of the city, and almost to-
tally eclipse the sun during their progress
over the plain. Sometimes the dust storms
continue only a few minutes, but very fre-
quently the citizens are made uncomfortable

JOHANNESBURG OF TO-DAY 293

by them for days at a time. Whenever they
arrive, the doors and windows of buildings are
tightly closed, business is practically at a
standstill, and every one is miserable. There
is no escape from it. It penetrates every
building, however well protected, and it lodges
in the food as well as in the drink. Pedestrians
on the street are unable to see ten feet ahead,
and are compelled to walk with head bowed
and with handkerchief over the mouth and nos-
trils. Umbrellas and parasols are but slight
protection against it. Only the miners, a
thousand feet below the surface, escape it.
When the storm has subsided the entire city
is covered with a blanket of dust ranging in
thickness from an inch on the sidewalks to an
eighth of an inch on the store counters, fur-
niture, and in pantries. It has never been com-
puted how great a quantity of the dust enters
a man's lungs, but the feeling that it engen-
ders is one of colossal magnitude.

Second to the dust, the main characteris-
tic of Johannesburg is the inhabitants' great
struggle for sudden wealth. It is doubtful

whether there is one person in the city whose
20

294

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

ambition is less than to become wealthy in
five years at least, and then to return to his
native country. It is not a chase after afflu-
ence; it is a stampede in which every soul in
the city endeavours to be in the van. In the
city and in the mines there are hundreds of
honourable ways of becoming rich, but there
are thousands of dishonourable ones; and the
morals of a mining city are not always on the
highest plane. There are business men of the
strictest probity and honesty, and men whose
word is as good as their bond, but there are
many more who will allow their conscience to
lie dormant so long as they remain in the
country. With them the passion is to secure
money, and whether they secure it by over-
charging a regular customer, selling illicit gold,
or gambling at the stock exchanges is a mat-
ter of small moment. Tradesmen and shop-
keepers will charge according to the apparel
of the patron, and will brazenly acknowledge
doing so if reminded by the one who has paid
two prices for like articles the same day.
Hotels charge according to the quantity of
luggage the traveller carries, and boarding-

JOHANNESBURG OF TO-DAY 295

bouses compute your wealth before presenting
their bills. Street-car fares and postage stamps
alone do not fluctuate in value, but the wise
man counts his change.

The experiences of an American with one
large business house in the city will serve as
an example of the methods of some of those
who are eager to realize their ambitions. The
American spent many weeks and much patience
and money in securing photographs through-
out the country, and took the plates to a
large firm in Johannesburg for development
and printing. When he returned two weeks
later he was informed that the plates and
prints had been delivered a week before, and
neither prayers nor threats secured a different
answer. Justice in the courts is slow and
costly, and the American was obliged to leave
the country without his property. Shortly
after his departure the firm of photographers
commenced selling a choice collection of new
South African photographs which, curiously,
were of the same scenes and persons photo-
graphed by the American.

Gambling may be more general in some

296 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

Other cities, but it can not be more public.
The more refined gamblers patronize the two
stock exchanges, and there are but few too
poor to indulge in that form of dissipation.
Probably nine tenths of the inhabitants of the
city travel the stock-exchange bypath to
wealth or poverty. Women and boys are as
much infected by the fever as mine owners and
managers, and it would not be slandering the
citizens to say that one fourth of the conver-
sation heard on the streets refers to the rise
and fall of stocks.

The popular gathering place in the city is
the street in front of one of the stock ex-
changes known as " The Chains." During
the session of the exchange the street is
crowded with an excited throng of men, boys,
and even women, all flushed with the excite-
ment of betting on the rise and fall of mining
stocks in the building. Clerks, ofince boys, and
miners spend the lunch hour at " The Chains,"
either to invest their wages or to watch the
market if their money is already invested. A
fall in the value of stocks is of far greater mo-
ment to them than war, famine, or pestilence.

JOHANNESBURG OF TO-DAY 297

The passion for gambling is also satisfied
by a giant lottery scheme known as " Sweep-
stakes," which has the sanction of the Gov-
ernment. Thousands of pounds are offered as
prizes at the periodical drawings, and no true
Johannesburger ever fails to secure at least
one ticket for the drawing. When there are
no sessions of the stock exchanges, no sweep-
stakes, horse races, ball games, or other usual
opportunities for gambling, they will bet on
the arrival of the Cape train, the length of a
sermon, or the number of lashes a negro
criminal can endure before fainting.

Drinking is a second diversion which oc-
cupies much of the time of the average citizen,
because of the great heat and the lack of
amusement. The liquor that is drunk in Jo-
hannesburg in one year would make a stream
of larger proportions and far more healthier
contents than the Vaal River in the dry sea-
son. It is a rare occurrence to see a man
drink water unless it is concealed in brandy,
and at night it is even rarer that one is seen
who is not drinking. Cape Smoke, the name
given to a liquor made in Cape Colony, is

2^8 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

credited with the ability to kill a man before
he has taken the glass from his lips, but the
popular Uitlander beverage, brandy and soda,
is even more fatal in its effects. Pure liquor
is almost unobtainable, and death-deaUng coun-
terfeits from Delagoa Bay are the substitutes.
Twenty-five cents for a glass of beer and fifty
cents for brandy and soda are not deterrent
prices where ordinary mine workers receive
ten dollars a day and mine managers fifty thou-
sand dollars a year.

Of social life there is Httle except such as
is afforded by the clubs, of which there are
several of high standing. The majority of the
men left their families in their native countries
on account of the severe cHmate, and that fact,
combined with the prevalent idea that the
weather is too torrid to do anything unneces-
sary, is responsible for Johannesburg's lack of
social amenity. There are occasional dances
and receptions, but they are participated in
only by newcomers who have not yet fallen
under the spell of the South African sun. The
Sunday night's musical entertainm.ents at the
Wanderer's Club are practically the only affairs

JOHANNESBURG OF TO-DAY 299

to which the average Uitlander cares to go,
because he can clothe himself for comfort and
be as dignified or as undignified as he pleases.

The true Johannesburger is the most in-
dependent man in the world. When he meets
a native on the sidewalk he promptly kicks
him into the street, and if the action is re-
sented, bullies a Boer policeman into arresting
the offender. The poHceman may demur and
call the Johannesburger a '* Verdomde rooinek,'*
but he will make the arrest or receive a drub-
bing. He may be arrested in turn, but he is
ever willing and anxious to pay a fine for the
privilege of beating a " dumb Dutchman," as
he calls him. He pays Httle attention to the
laws of the country, because he has not had
the patience to learn what they consist of,
and he rests content in knowing that his home
government will rescue him through diplo-
matic channels if he should run counter to the
laws. He cares nothing concerning the gov-
ernment of the city except as it interferes with
or assists his own private interests, but he will
take advantage of every opportunity to defy
the authority of the administrators of the laws.

300 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

He despises the Boers, and continually and
maliciously ridicules them on the slightest pre-
texts. Specially true is this of those news-
papers which are the representatives of the Uit-
lander population. Venomous editorials against
the Boer Government and people appear al-
most daily, and serve to widen the breach be-
tween the two classes of inhabitants. The
Boer newspapers for a long time ignored the
assaults of the Uitlander press, but recently
they have commenced to retaliate, and the
editorial war is a bitter one. An extract from
the Randt Post will show the nature and depth
of bitterness displayed by the two classes of
newspapers:

'' Though Dr. Leyds may be right, and
the Johannesburg population safe in case of
war, we advise that, at the first act of war
on the English side, the women and children,
and well-disposed persons of this town, be
given twenty-four hours to leave, and then the
whole place be shot down; in the event, we re-
peat— which God forbid! — of war coming.

" If, indeed, there must be shooting, then
it will be on account of seditious words and

JOHANNESBURG OF TO-DAY 301

deeds of Johannesburg agitators and the co-
shareholders in Cape Town and London, and
the struggle will be promoted for no other
object than the possession of the gold. Well,
then, let such action be taken that the per-
petrators of these turbulent proceedings shall,
if caught, be thrown into the deep shafts of
their mines, with the debris of the batteries
for a costly shroud, and that the whole of
Johannesburg, with the exception of the Afri-
kander wards, be converted into a gigantic rub-
bish heap to serve as a mighty tombstone for
the shot-down authors of a monstrous deed.

'' If it be known that these valuable buildings
and the lives of the wire-pullers are the price
of the mines, then people will take good heed
before the torch of war is set alight. Friendly
talks and protests are no use with England.
Let force and rough violence be opposed to
the intrigues and plots of Old England, and
only then will the Boer remain master."

It is on Saturday nights that the bitterness
of the Uitlander population is most noticeable,
since then the workers from the mines along
the Randt gather in the city and discuss their

,02 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

grievances, which then become magnified with
every additional glass of liquor. It is then
that the city streets and places of amusement
and entertainment are crowded with a throng
that finds relaxation by abusing the Boers.
The theatre audiences laugh loudest at the
coarsest jests made at the expense of the
Boers, and the bar-room crowds talk loudest
when the Boers are the subject of discussion.
The abuse continues even when the not-too-
sober Uitlander, wheeled homeward at day-
break by his faithful Zulu 'ricksha boy, casts
imprecations upon the Boer policeman who is
guarding his property.

Johannesburg is one of the most expensive
places of residence in the world. Situated in
the interior of the continent, thousands of
miles distant from the sources of food and
supplies, it is natural that commodities should
be high in price. Almost all food stuffs are
carried thither from America, Europe, and
Australia, and consequently the original cost
is trebled by the addition of carriage and
customs duties. The most common articles
of food are twice as costly as in America,

JOHANNESBURG OF TO-DAY 303

while such commodities as eggs, imported from
Madeira, frequently are scarce at a dollar a
dozen. Butter from America is fifty cents a
pound, and fruits and vegetables from Cape
Colony and Natal are equally high in price and
frequently unobtainable. Good board can not
be obtained anywhere for less than five dollars
a day, while the best hotels and clubs charge
thrice that amount. Rentals are exceptionally
high owing to the extraordinary land values and
the cost of erecting buildings. A small, brick-
lined, corrugated-iron cottage of four rooms,
such as a married mine-employee occupies,
costs from fifty to seventy-five dollars a month,
while a two-story brick house in a respectable
quarter of the city rents for one hundred dol-
lars a month.

Every object in the city is mutely expres-
sive of a vast expenditure of money. The idea
that everything — the buildings, food, horses,
clothing, machinery, and all that is to be seen
— has been carried across oceans and conti-
nents unconsciously associates itself with the
cost that it has entailed. Four-story build-
ings that in New York or London would be

304

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

passed without remark cause mental specula-
tion concerning their cost, merely because it
is so patent that every brick, nail, and board
in them has been conveyed thousands of miles
from foreign shores. Electric lights and street
cars, so common in American towns, appear
abnormal in the city in the veldt, and instantly
suggest an outlay of great amounts of money
even to the minds which are not accustomed
to reducing everything to dollars and pounds.
Leaving the densely settled centre of the
city, where land is worth as much as choice
plots on Broadway, and wandering into the sub-
urbs where the great mines are, the idea of
cost is more firmly implanted into the mind.
The huge buildings, covering acres of ground
and thousands of tons of the most costly ma-
chinery, seem to be of natural origin rather
than of human handiwork. It is almost be-
yond belief that men should be daring enough
to convey hundreds of steamer loads of lumber
and machinery halfway around the world at in-
estimable cost merely for the yellow metal that
Nature has hidden so far distant from the great
centres of population.

JOHANNESBURG OF TO-DAY 305

The cosmopolitanism of the city is a feature
which impresses itself most indelibly upon the
mind. In a half-day's stroll in the city repre-
sentatives of all the peoples of the earth, with
the possible exception of the American Indian,
Eskimos, and South Sea islanders, will be seen
variously engaged in the struggle for gold.
On the floors of the stock exchanges are money
barons or their agents, as energetic and sharp
as their prototypes of Wall and Throckmor-
ton Streets. These are chiefly British, French,
and German. Outside, between " The Chains,"
are readily discernible the distinguishing fea-
tures of the Americans, Afrikanders, Portu-
guese, Russians, Spaniards, and Italians. A
few steps distant is Commissioner Street, the
principal thoroughfare, where the surging
throng is composed of so many different racial
representatives that an analysis of it is not an
easy undertaking. He is considered an expert
who can name the native country of every man
on the street, and if he can distinguish between
an American and a Canadian he is credited
with being a wise man.

In the throng is the tall, well-clothed Brit-

3o6

OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

on, with silk hat and frock coat, closely fol-
lowed by a sparsely clad Matabele, bearing his
master's account books or golf-sticks. Near
them a Chinaman, in circular red-topped hat
and flowing silk robes, is having a heated ar-
gument in broken EngUsh with an Irish han-
som-driver. Crossing the street are two stately
Arabs, in turbans and white robes, jostUng easy-
going Indian cooHes with their canes. Bare-
headed Cingalese, their long, shiny hair tied
in knots and fastened down with circular combs,
noiselessly ghding along, or stopping suddenly
to trade Oriental jewelry for Christian's money;
Malays, Turks, Egyptians, Persians, and New-
Zealanders, each with his distinctive costume;
Hottentots, Matabeles, Zulus, Mashonas, Basu-
tos, and the representatives of hundreds of the
other native races south of the Zambezi pass
by in picturesque lack of bodily adornment.

It is an imposing array, too, for the major-
ity of the throng is composed of moderately
wealthy persons, and even in the centre of
Africa wealth carries with it opportunities for
display. John Chinaman will ride in a 'ricksha
to his joss-house with as much conscious pride

JOHANNESBURG OF TO-DAY 307

as the European or American will sit in his
brougham or automobile. Money is as easily
spent as made in Johannesburg, and it is a
cosmopolitan habit to spend it in a manner
so that everybody will know it is being spent.
To make a display of some sort is necessary to
the citizen's happiness. If he is not of sufBcient
importance to have his name in the subsidized
newspapers daily he will seek notoriety by
wearing a thousand pounds' worth of diamonds
on the street or making astonishing bets at
the race-track. In that Httle universe on the
veldt every man tries to be superior to his
neighbour in some manner that may be patent
to all the city. When it is taken into consid-
eration that almost all the contestants were
among the cleverest and shrewdest men in the
countries whence they came to Johannesburg,
and not among the riffraff and failures, then
the intensity of the race for superiority can be
imagined.

Johannesburg might be named the City of
Surprises. Its youthful existence has been
fraught with astonishing works. It w^as born
in a day, and one day's revolution almost ended

3o8 OOM PAUL'S PEOPLE

its existence. It grew from the desert veldt
into a garden of gold. Its granite residences,
brick buildings, and iron and steel mills sprang
from blades of grass and sprigs of weeds. It
has transformed the beggar into a millionaire,
and it has seen starving men in its streets. It
harbours men from every nation and climate,
but it is a home for few. It is far from the
centre of the earth's civilization, but it has often
attracted the whole world's attention. It sup-
ports its children, but by them it is cursed.
Its god is in the earth upon which it rests,
and its hope of future life in that which it
brings forth. And all this because a man up-
turned the soil and called it gold.

THE END

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Full text of "Oom Paul's people : a narrative of the British-Boer troubles in South Africa, with a history of the Boers, the country, and its institutions"

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